Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on September 17th, 2009
I love CSI and have been an avid fan from day one. I think it brought a fresh look to the procedural crime dramas that have long ago become just a little stale and predictable. The problem is that the series has gone the Dick Wolf route of branching out so that the final product might be a little diluted. Unlike the Law & Order franchise, each version of CSI has attempted to take on a unique look and style to reflect the location without giving up those elements which are the tradition of the series. CSI: Miami is by far the inferior of these three shows. In trying to create a slick glitzy Miami feel, the show has gone the way of style over substance. While the oversaturated colors and bright locations might make for a more visually stunning series, it tends here to overshadow the meat and potatoes of CSI, the stories. I get the impression that the show wants badly to recreate the Miami Vice accomplishment of trend setting fashion and style. Those days are long gone, and CSI has an entirely contrary mission that is weakened weekly by this overboard attempt to look good. The show is also beginning to adopt the 24 style of multi frames for no other reason than they think it looks cool. The show doesn’t respect the audience enough to believe they will buy into the series without all of these high tech distractions. It’s a shame, really, because I had higher hopes for this version of CSI, as I happen to live in Florida. Unfortunately most of CSI: Miami is shot in L.A. with the exception of a few overused establishing shots. Let me tell you, L.A. doesn’t look anything like Miami. Perhaps the show should consider dropping all of the fake glitz and move to location where they can take advantage of the city in a far more realistic way.
The series follows the CSI model set forth in the original Vegas version of the franchise. The lead CSI here is Horatio Caine played by former NYPD Blue actor David Caruso. Caruso left that series because he fancied himself better as a big movie star. Several failed leading roles later he finds himself back playing virtually the same character here. It’s the same Caruso odd speaking pattern, only this time he has a lab coat to go with that gun. Adam Rodriguez plays Caine’s favorite among his lab partners, Delko. He shares a bit of history with Delko. They’ve had a few off the reservation missions together and have bonded somewhat. Delko wants to be just like Caine. Next in the pecking order is Ryan Wolfe, played by Jonathan Togo. Togo is the Greek tragedy character here. It seems that every year this guy is getting the worst of it, from losing his hearing to getting roughed up by the Russian mob. He was a cop and transferred over to the CSI unit in season 2 under Caine’s wing. Emily Procter plays Calleigh. She’s the ballistics expert and all around tough girl with a disarming southern accent. She makes a living by being underestimated. By far the most annoying character is Eva La Rue’s Natalia. Her love lives and former life baggage turn her more often than not into the helpless whimpering damsel in distress. She’s by far the most frustrating character in the entire franchise. If I have to hear her whine one more season… Rex Linn plays the crew’s uniformed cop buddy, Frank Tripp. He’s getting more and more screen time and acts as the audience’s representative on the show. He’s a good tough cop, but the science just goes over his head. New to the 7th season is Megalyn Echikunwoke, please don’t make me spell that last name again, as the new medical examiner on the series, Dr. Tara Price. She’s a huge change from the previous pathologist whom I’m sure fans are already missing. She’s got a bit of a ‘tude. She also flirts too much, while Alex always had this almost unnatural respect for the dead.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on September 17th, 2009
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 just 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. I was new to the whole universe, so I believe I was able to approach the spin-off more objectively. To tell the truth, I didn’t like it at all. And so I considered Private Practice to be doomed even before I saw the first stand alone episode. That wasn’t boding well when I received this truncated season one set to review recently. True, I had warmed up to Grey’s by then, but I was still a bit put off by the new show. I watched it anyway.
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) run the place. Dr. Violet Turner (Brennemen) is the clinic’s shrink. I guess you could call her a shrinking violet. 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 troubled soul who can’t sleep and has an apparent addiction to pills. Finally there is Dell (Lowell) the office assistant and “pretty boy”. Because of the strike there are only 9 episodes spread over 3 discs.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on September 17th, 2009
Girlfriends has turned out to be a very successful show. It lasted eight seasons and one hundred seventy two episodes. Despite the lack of a proper final episode, it should have a lasting place in television history. In 2006, they ran a special episode which ended up being a backdoor pilot for the series called The Game. With the 4th season of this show currently in negotiations with the BET network, it was only fitting to start releasing Season sets. But would it be as good as the show that it spun off from?
Melanie Barnett (played by Tia Mowry) is in love with Derwin Davis (played by Pooch Hall). Melanie wants to go to John Hopkins medical school but there is one problem, Derwin has been drafted to play professional football by the San Diego Sabres. Melanie decides to forgo John Hopkins against her parent’s wishes and join Derwin in San Diego.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on September 16th, 2009
“A hero lives but a few seconds. Ma master holds on to his life. It is more important to forgive than to fight.”
But they don’t know Jackie Chan. When Popeye gets into a jam, he rolls out a can of spinach and down the hatch it goes. Next thing you know that old sailor pipsqueak is kicking butt and taking names. When Jackie’s Wong Fei-hung gets into a jam, he looks for a bottle of sake or maybe a 5th of Jack Daniels. When Jackie drinks, his enemies get the hangover. That’s the art of drunken boxing. The idea is that the alcohol loosens up your body and allows you to fight because you are limber and flexible.
![The Legend of Drunken Master [Blu-ray] dvd cover art](https://upcomingdiscs.com/ecs_covers/the-legend-of-drunken-master-blu-r-large.jpg)
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on September 16th, 2009
Grey’s Anatomy follows the life and tribulations of a group of interns at Seattle Grace Hospital. There’s certainly nothing original about the premise, except that the story is told by one of the more unlikely characters, Dr. Meredith Grey (Pompeo). As a lead she’s really not all that remarkable, but the show doesn’t put everything on her narrow shoulders. The series is populated by a solid supporting cast, giving it all a far more ensemble feel despite the title. James Pickens, Jr. is perhaps the most extraordinary actor in the show. He’s underused, but steals every scene he’s in. His Dr. Webber is a powerfully serious voice in an otherwise often frivolous world. Chandra Wilson as the intern teacher Dr. Baily is another standout performance, offering tremendous range. Her character, often referred to as a Nazi by her interns, is capable of outstanding empathy just when it’s required. Too many of the characters serve as eye candy, but I can’t say that any of them don’t have some good acting chops.
With all of that said, season 5 is not the way to have your first Grey’s Anatomy experience. I strongly recommend you begin at the start if you are not sure about this show. While I was able to gain some appreciation for the show, I had to work harder for it by starting so late. If you already like the show, nothing I could say would keep you from continuing your collection here. For those of you up on what’s going on, here’s the kind of stories you can expect in season 5: The biggest impact story thread has to be Izzie’s brain tumor. It also leads to a return by Supernatural’s Jeffrey Dean Morgan’s Denny character. Yeah, I know he died, but he learned a thing or two from his stint on Supernatural. Actually it’s Izzie’s tumor that allows us this return visit. Not really a spoiler here, as the show did a huge amount of promo spots talking about Denny’s return and Izzie’s illness. Another huge milestone is the addition of Rome’s phenomenal actor Kevin McKidd as new Dr. Owen Hunt. It’s a great character, possibly one of the best in the series. He’s a military doctor, so adds quite a bit of a new dynamic to the series. He’s going to be challenging the methods and techniques of the hospital. Controversy reaches Grace when a death row inmate wishes to donate his organs. The problem is that the execution will render his organs unusable. He’ll have to be killed at the hospital by someone on the staff. Mark tries to perform a face transplant. Unfortunately, it is still the romantic entanglements that drive this series.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on September 16th, 2009
“One part sex. One part rebellion.”
That’s how Sony describes their Martini Movies. The films come from that time in the 1960’s and 1970’s when there was a lot of unrest in the country. It was a time of protests and questioning of authority. It was the time of free love and a socialism experiment in communes all across America. Now, what exactly all of this has to do with martinis, I’m not exactly sure. In fact, there’s not a lot of drinking in most of these films. It’s more likely just a blanket way to release some obscure films in their catalog.
Posted in: Dare to Play the Game, News and Opinions by Michael Durr on September 16th, 2009
Playing Games from the Backside, Tecmo editing their Wiki & Used Game sales driving New Ones? - Welcome to the column that tried to edit its own Wiki page before they realized they weren’t important enough to have one known as Dare to Play the Game.
Another week, another column. This past week, I was happy to get in some normal gaming that didn’t involve me huddled on an airplane staring at a tiny screen and making my character turn every which way but loose. Yeap, I was back playing more Peggle. Okay, okay I laid off the Peggle for the most part, I think my initial OMG I have to clear this board/challenge/achievement phase is over and I go back to putting it on occasionally for the oh hey, I got a few minutes to kill mode.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on September 15th, 2009
Claire (Judd) and Tom (Caviezel) appear to have it made. Claire is a successful attorney and Tom is ex-Army. They are happy and very much in love, trying to have their first child. Suddenly while out on the town an FBI SWAT team surrounds them on the street at Union Square. Tom is taken into custody. Claire soon discovers that Tom wasn’t the man she thought he was. In fact, his name isn’t even Tom. He is Sergeant Ron Chapman, and he’s been a fugitive for 12 years, wanted by the Army for murder. Now the military court is seeking the death penalty. He is accused of killing civilians in a raid gone wrong. He insists that he is innocent and that the guilty party is actually a prominent and influential general. All but two of the event’s witnesses are dead, many by mysterious accidents. Claire takes his case and turns to attorney Charles Grimes (Freeman) who has had experience with these kinds of cases. Unfortunately, he’s an alcoholic and a bit of a wild cannon. Still, he knows his stuff when he’s sober, and he’s the best chance she has of uncovering the truth. To win they will have to prove a government cover-up and risk their lives in the process. It appears a lot of folks don’t want this case to be solved. It’s an uphill battle, and everyone has something to hide. It’s a “trust no one situation” as Claire and Grimes get to the bottom of the case.
The film is based on a moderately successful novel by Joseph Finder. While the film has an impressive cast and a pretty good story, it suffers from a lack of imagination by director Carl Franklin. You may know the name. He was a busy television actor in the 80’s and 90’s and appeared relative failures like Fantastic Journey and well known shows like The A-Team. While he was a fair actor, I’m afraid his directorial skills haven’t translated. The film never really shows any imagination. It reminds me of those tubes on Star Trek that were marked GNDN (Goes Nowhere, Does Nothing). He fails to utilize the full extent of his widescreen picture, and all of the action falls too often inside that cramped relative center square that used to represent the difference with television. In spite of some tremendous chemistry with Morgan Freeman and Ashley Judd, the film appears to meander too long in one place. Pacing is awkward and uneven, to be kind. In the end the film boils down to a very clichéd procedural that never comes close to breaking new ground. Audiences seemed to agree in 2002 when the film opened. It had a rather sweet opening weekend but soon was dropping like an anchor in deep water as word of mouth appeared to include a resounding thumbs down. It finished its run pulling in $41 million on a $42 million budget with 34% of its gross the first week.
![High Crimes [Blu-ray] dvd cover art](https://upcomingdiscs.com/ecs_covers/high-crimes-blu-ray-large.jpg)
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on September 15th, 2009
“Attention: Tonight’s movie has been M*A*S*H. Follow the zany antics of our combat surgeons as they stitch their way along the front lines operating as bombs and bullets burst around them, snatching laughs and love between amputations and penicillin, as they put our boys back together again.”
M*A*S*H began life as a novel written by an actual Korean War Army surgeon under the pen name Richard Hooker. He based the character of Hawkeye on himself and most of the other characters on actual personnel that were stationed with him at a real M*A*S*H unit. The book was written for the screen by longtime blacklisted screenwriter Ring Lardner, Jr. Lardner was intrigued by the anti-authority message the book had, likely due to his own experiences with the government. He was one of a group of Hollywood talent that refused to testify before the Senate Committee on Un-American Activities. They were thrown in prison and blacklisted in the industry. This particular group became known as The Hollywood Ten. Whatever Lardner’s ideas might have been for the movie, they were enough to get a select group of producers excited about the property and got the ball rolling. We won’t ever really know what those concepts might have been exactly. In the hands of, at that time, new director Robert Altman, the script was practically discarded almost in its entirety. Altman had his own views which were inspired more by the still raging Vietnam War than what he considered an obscure historical event he believed most Americans didn’t even remember. All mention of Korea was deliberately left out of the film. When the studio caught on they forced him into providing a scroll at the film’s beginning that set the location. To Altman and pretty much everyone working on the film they were making a movie about Vietnam, not Korea. He incorporated his own anti-establishment, some might call subversive, ideas and made a film that Lardner would exclaim was nothing like his script. He encouraged rampant improvisation from the cast and little of Lardner’s dialog actually remained.
![M*A*S*H [Blu-ray] dvd cover art](https://upcomingdiscs.com/ecs_covers/mash-blu-ray-large.jpg)
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on September 15th, 2009
“England. August in the year 1940. Again – A time for valor. A time of whispered events, now faded with the passing years.”
In 1971 what had not faded in the 7 years since its release was the enormous success of Walt Disney’s Mary Poppins. With its charming story and characters and the breakthrough special effects that the studio had developed, the film was a milestone for the entire film industry. I suppose it isn’t too surprising that the folks at Disney would want to try to recapture that success all over again.
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