The concept of Pawn Stars, the History Channel’s latest stab at reality TV, is admittedly yawn-inducing. Set in a family-run pawn shop off the strip in Las Vegas, the show works thanks to the personalities of the shop owners and employees and an interesting collection of items that come into shop. The store is run by the Harrison men, three generation including the cranky, “I’ve seen it all†Navy vet…
Che was released in 2008, giving viewers a four and a half hour view into popular revolutionary Ernesto “Che†Guevara’s trials and tribulations. Specifically, it covers about a decade of Guevara’s life, from eir first meeting with Fidel Castro in 1955 until eir death in October of 1967. The Criterion Collection beautifully captures the two parts of this Soderbergh-directed and Del Toro-starred film, while adding an additional disc and booklet…
Of course, anyone that would be picking up this movie knows that 2009’s Fame is based off of the 1980 original. For those that (for whatever reason) did not see the film, a set of performers are joined as they are admitted into the New York City High School of Performing Arts, and are seen to progress through the different years of schooling. A cast that includes real life performers…
For those that have not seen the spectacle that is Make It Or Break It, it was originally aired on ABC Family in the middle of last year and was based on the incredibly competitive world of professional gymnastics. The different tensions that exist between members of the Kmetko , Cruz, and the various coaches, trainers, and other individuals of interest is what makes this show such a must-see. Where…
ER was on the air for a staggering 15 seasons, so you’d be forgiven – if like me -you were unaware of most of the characters that surfaced in the just released twelfth season DVD set.
Indican has gotten the rights to distribute Only The Brave, a simply fantastic low-budget war flick that is simply surprising in terms of quality. Only The Brave goes into illuminating detail about the Japanese-American 100th/442nd Regimental Combat Team, a volunteer organization that laid their lives on the line for a government that would much rather keep them behind bars. 1400 individuals suited up to combat a group of forces that…
While Lake Tahoe is a film that seems to exist at the very edge of believability, director Fernando Eimbcke does a hell of a job putting just enough realism into the film to convince viewers that the events of Lake Tahoe could happen to them. The film surrounds Juan attempting to find a way to fix eir family’s car after crashing it into a telephone pole. Along the way, Juan…
It seems honestly as if there is disproportionate coverage of World War II at the detriment of all of the other conflicts that the United States has gotten itself into. This includes the Civil War, which caused a rift that for some has yet to be fixed. These two documentaries – covering Gettysburg and a panoply of major battles (including Antietam, Chickamauga, and Shiloh among others) – do much to…
Pray The Devil Back To Hell is a film that showcases a group of individuals that are definitely ignored by the mainstream press. This is because the subject matter centers around the Liberia plight, in which a group of wives come together in the hope that the different struggles could be resolved. Set during the Charles Taylor regime in the country, it really is amazing that this group of individuals…
The Mel Brooks Collection is a value-priced box set of Brooks’ more well-known and cherished films. The nine-disc (!) set gives each film a proper treatment, with a total list including Blazing Saddles, Spaceballs, Young Frankenstein, High Anxiety, History of the World Part I, Robin Hood: Men In Tights, Silent Movie, To Be Or Not To Be, and Twelve Chairs. With all of the years between when some of these…
The first Family Guy special having to do with Star Wars was universally accepted and watched obsessively; it is not surprising then that the sequel, Something, Something, Something, Dark Side has some big shoes to fill. To do that, MacFarlane has went and added a new supporting cast of characters, which include Mort Goldman as Lando Calrissian and the evil Chicken as Boba Fett. As usual, MacFarlane does a hell…
The original Marine seemed to have a pretty good ending to it, one that didn’t really necessitate a sequel. Where WWE Superstar John Cena was in the original film, Ted DiBiase (son of the famed “Million Dollar Manâ€) is heading up this one. Joe Linwood (DiBiase) has to save eir wife after a party that both are attending is broken up by a terrorist sect. Stranded without any assistance from…
Life on Mars failed miserably in its US version, but there was a reason why the U.S. version was commissioned in the first place. Acorn’s release of the second season of Life on Mars is more evidence of that, with over seven hours of footage to persuade viewers. This season goes much more into depth about whether Sam is actually in 1973 or 2006, and further explores the relationships that…
Election Day is a film that looks to showcase all the different sides of the 2004 election in a way that had never been done before. While there have been tremendous amounts of time given to the president speeches and such from the era, Katy Chevigny wants to see how everything can be placed together to create a cogent narrative. The geographic focus of the film is just as large…
I must admit, I was not a fan of Glee when it first came on. The songs were a little too hackneyed, the productions of the performances a little too polished for what was supposed to be a high school glee club. However, as the season went on, I found myself paying more attention to each episode. This is because the main storyline present was able to showcase a set…
I didn’t buy into the hype when Chuck was first released. I saw it as little more than a quick clone of NBC’s Heroes – appeal to the geeks and get instant ratings.
Big Love was a show that I had heard boatloads about, but only got to pick up on the show when the wife and I were at the Arcade in Cleveland. The one thing that we noticed is that HBO has done a hell of a job ensuring that viewers that might be completely new to the show (like we were) would be able to appreciate any random episode. The…
Christmas and holiday specials more generally have been plagued for years by a style of writing that breaks the characters in question from their normal motivation and fills them with some sort of cross-cutting holiday spirit. All involved with the It’s Always Sunny holiday special have ensured that this does not happen, and as a result, this special is one that will be remembered. First off, the DVD version of…
Up is one of those films that practically everyone I talked to appreciated. Some found it ultimately sad, others funny, but all appreciated the work that Pixar and Disney put into it. The film itself really discusses the limits of truth, whether it be the possibility of setting a house to flight through the use of numerous balloons or the dethroning of Charles F. Muntz (Christopher Plummer) through what all…
It is interesting to see Spike Lee move into sports. Of course, everyone knows that Lee has been a fixture at many a Knicks game, but I personally though that ey would stick with the feature films for a while longer.