Month: November 2007 (Page 6 of 12)

Doc of the Day: “Sun Dogs”

November 15, 2007 /

“Sun Dogs” is the story of the Jamaican dog sled team.

No, not the Jamaican bobsled team. The Jamaican dog sled team. I can understand how you’d think I’d just written down the wrong phrase, given how much more famous the former team is; in fact, it’s that very success which inspired Danny Melville to try to kickstart the idea of giving Jamaica a second unlikely sport to call their own.

Given that it comes from Palm Productions, it’s no wonder that “Sun Dogs” is a well-made documentary which extends far beyond the scope that one might reasonably expect from its simplistic cover art. Yes, it’s the true story of the Jamaican Dogsled Team, just as advertised, but this is as much of a tale of the country of Jamaica, how the beauty of its landscape belies the poverty of its people, and why something as simple and strange as a tropical island becoming famous for being good as a sport that’s generally done on snowy terrain can raise the spirits of so many people.

It’s a whirlwind trip ’round the world, this doc, spending time not only in Jamaica but also in Minnesota and Edinburgh, Scotland (you can’t exactly do proper sled training in a hot and sunny climate, now, can you?), but it’s also an emotional voyage as well, particularly when Newton – one of the human representatives of the team – is abruptly but understandably removed from working with the dogs. And speaking of the dogs, their story proves as interesting as the humans, coming as they do from the Jamaican SPCA. Most of them adapt well to the sport, but it takes a fair amount of training; still, it’s never a hardship to watch them, because, c’mon, doggies are cute!

Ahem.

Anyway, this is a great documentary that provides a real look at the creation of the team rather than an airbrushed Hollywood recreation, but it’s still a heartwarming story…one with a bouncy reggae soundtrack which propels it at all times. If there’s any complaint, it’s that the film’s description would lead you to believe that Jimmy Buffett, who offers financial support to the team, is a major player in the story; although it refers to “the crew, spearheaded by pop superstar Jimmy Buffett,” the man from Margaritaville is in it for maybe five minutes, tops.

Of course, if you’re not a Parrothead, this revelation may only serve to make you want to see “Sun Dogs” more than you already did before.

Doc of the Day, Documentaries, External Entertainment, External Movie DVDs, External Movies, Movie DVDs, Movies, Reviews

Kitchen Nightmares: Irish Tempers

November 15, 2007 /

Last night’s “Kitchen Nightmares” featured Gordon Ramsey visiting Finn McCool’s, an Irish Pub in Westhampton, Long Island. A place like this can thrive in the summertime when everyone goes to the Hamptons, but struggle in the winter when it’s just the locals. In addition, this place was not being run properly and, as with every restaurant on this show, was losing money fast.

Owner Buddy had his two sons, Brian (chef) and Jason (bartender) doing the bulk of the work. Jason’s wife, Janet, was also employed there as a server.

When Ramsey arrived, a middle aged waitress named Carol announced that she had the hots for him. This is another pattern with this show. In fact, as you’ll see, the whole show format is one big pattern.

Ramsey sits down for lunch to sample the menu, and orders spring rolls, salmon, and shepherd’s pie.
He barely touches the spring rolls, the salmon is drenched in balsamic vinegar sauce, and the shepherd’s pie is so greasy it literally makes Gordon run for the bathroom and puke. Or maybe that was the producers getting cute.

Still, Ramsey knew the food quality was a big problem. He also visits a local firehouse to see what the locals think of Finn McCool’s. They all say the food is too greasy, and Ramsey is not surprised. But he invites them back to try out his new menu. Then, Ramsey goes back and inpsects the kitchen, to find out that Brian is not keeping it very clean. Some of the food is rotting, the raw food is kept with the cooked food….ugh, it’s making me sick just thinking about it. To make matters worse, Ramsey witnesses sous chef Francis picking a chicken wing up off the floor and putting it back in the deep fryer. Yuck!

Ramsey then attempts to work with Brian and show him that you don’t have to make shepherd’s pie so greasy and offers other tips. Brian wants none of it, and storms out. Buddy says he would fire Brian if he weren’t his son. So with Brian gone, Buddy attempts to be the head chef, something he’s obviously not good at. He and Ramsey realize that Brian really is up against a lot, and when Brian returns four days later they tell him that. So Ramsey’s design team makes the place look more appealing, and he also has changed the menu to reflect the same items but fresher and with no fried food at all.

The re-launch is a crazy busy night, and everyone is having a hard time keeping up with the orders, especially Brian. But Ramsey keeps them going and holds it all together. Customers are waiting, some for more than an hour, and some even leave. But one that stays is food critic Sabrina Mashburn. Luckily, she announces that the food has been “worth the wait.” Everyone seems to love the new menu.

Ramsey takes them all outside after the dinner service and commends them for working together as a family and as a team. They show that two months later, the restaurant is going strong and the place is finally making money, and everyone has a renewed passion. Another feel good ending.

I like this show, but I’m getting just a bit tired of the patterns: older server having the hots for Gordon, at least one hot head storming out after feeling threatened by Ramsey, a disgusting kitchen, miraculous turnaround, and happy ending. But I guess that’s what this is about, and you can’t argue with the fact that Ramsey really does know what he’s doing.

Anyway, as always, they claim that next week is the best episode yet, so we’ll see. And I’ll see you all then….

Kitchen Nightmares, Reality TV, TV

Doc of the Day: “Hollywood Goes Gaming”

November 14, 2007 /

I’ve never been a real hardcore video game addict…well, not for any extended period of time, anyway. I had my fair share of obsessions once in awhile – first the arcade, then my trusty Intellivision, followed by brief stints with Nintendo and Xbox – but none of those lasted more than a few months before they were set aside. Kids today, though, they’re downright obsessed with the gaming, so when I first heard about the Starz documentary, “Hollywood Goes Gaming,” I thought, “Oh, man, this is totally not gonna hold my interest.”

I couldn’t have been more wrong. It was way better than I ever expected, offering a nicely done retrospective of the history of video games becoming movies and vice versa. For instance, Stephen Linsberg, writer / director of “Tron,” bemoans the fact that his film didn’t even receive an Academy Award for Best Special Effects, then admits that, at the time, the industry felt that he’d “cheated” by using computers for his effects. It’s amusing that the doc launches from its discussion of “Tron” and how Mattel licensed the film for a video game, then fast-forwards to the present and observes how it’s a given that a film will have a video-game tie-in nowadays, using “Surf’s Up” as an example. Why’s that amusing? Both films start Jeff Bridges!

Would you believe there was once a licensing battle for a “Kramer vs. Kramer” video game? True. Everybody wanted a piece of the video game action, but the most enjoyable discussion here comes via archival interview footage with Spielberg about the legendarily bad “E.T.” video game for Atari, then cuts to current interview with a fellow who used to work for Atari, who says that Spielberg saw the test version of the game and said, “Gee, couldn’t you do something more like ‘Pac-Man’?” “And I thought, well, gee, couldn’t you do something more like ‘The Day the Earth Stood Still’”? All snark aside, the game was such a colossal failure that Atari ended up with so many leftover copies that they buried a ton of them in a Mexican landfill. (I always thought that was an apocryphal story, but if so, Atari’s amused enough by it to claim it’s true.)

There’s also a nice bit about “Dragon’s Lair,” including an interview with creator Don Bluth (alas, the follow-up game, “Space Ace,” gets no love), along with an almost apologetic sequence about the “Super Mario Brothers.” From there, it’s onto the triple threat of the “Double Dragon,” “Street Fighter,” and “Mortal Kombat” flicks.

Inevitably, there’s conversation with Uwe Boll and Paul WS Anderson, with the latter proving the most entertaining. (I had no idea that, in answer to his critics, he offered to meet them in a boxing ring and fight them!) Clive Barker chimes in on his experiences in the industry, including his work on his own game, “Jericho,” and, of course, Shia LaBeouf gets interviewed because he’s the Michael Caine of his era, showing up in just about everything, though he looks like he was caught in the middle of a press tour, however, rather than having sat down for his interview like everyone else.

Kudos to Starz for these documentaries of theirs. They’re really doing a nice job of providing historical context rather than just having a bunch of talking heads blather on; in this case, we’re treated to interviews with the founders of Atari and Electronic Arts, the guys who were on the front lines of all these goings-on. Makes for a lot more interesting perspective than, say, a movie critic talking about how bad “Double Dragon” was.

Action Movies, Actors, Actresses, Doc of the Day, Documentaries, External Entertainment, External Movie DVDs, External Movies, External TV, Horror Movies, Movie Dramas, Movie DVDs, Movies, Reviews, TV

Doc of the Day: “The U.S. vs. John Lennon”

November 13, 2007 /

Wait, John Lennon was political? Wow, how did I miss out on this…?

It isn’t as though we haven’t gotten enough documentaries which have tackled the life and times of John Lennon over the years – I’m thinking first and foremost of “Imagine: John Lennon,” but it’s not like he hasn’t popped up elsewhere – but, to be fair, this is the first time there’s been an attempt to focus specifically on his life and times as a political activist.

There’s a quote on the back of the DVD box from Yoko Ono where she says, “Of all the documentaries that have been made about John, this is the one he would have loved.” Well, she’d probably know better than anyone…and, yeah, she’s probably right. He would have loved the idea that his attempts to bring peace to the world were, if not 100% successful, at least still being spoken of this far into the future. When viewed through the eyes of a world that’s survived such traumatic events as the L.A. riots and 9/11, however, you find yourself staring blankly at the screen on occasion, wondering exactly how naive Lennon really was to think that he could change the world with his methods.

Sure, they’re quaint and well-intentioned. Having a bed-in for peace makes a statement that he’s anti-war without risking confrontation with the authorities. Suggesting that there would be no issue with race if everyone was inside a bag and you couldn’t see their skin…well, that’s a little more off the wall, sure, but there’s a valid point somewhere within the eccentricity. Ultimately, though, the greatest achievement of John Lennon was to show that a pop star could have a social conscience, and if having that conscience required losing fans, then so be it.

As to “The U.S. vs. John Lennon,” what makes it so fascinating is the placement of Lennon’s actions within their proper historical context. What may be viewed as naive now was still quite sufficient to draw the attention of the Nixon White House and result in Lennon being put under FBI surveillance. You can kind of see why, too; he was, after all, hanging out with noted radicals such as John Sinclair, Bobby Seale, and the like. Really, though, it was less because of the company he was keeping and more because he was, despite his preference to keep himself as far away from that niche as possible, a Beatle…and when you’re a Beatle, the kids listen to you. Sure, they might not agree with everything you have to say, but you’ve still got their ear, and that’s why Nixon felt Lennon was so dangerous and, indeed, a legitimate threat to his Presidential campaign. In the end, Nixon still won another term, but the effects of Lennon’s political leanings made enough of an impact on society that the film manages to score talking-head commentary from Walter Cronkite, Mario Cuomo, Gore Vidal, and many others.

Yoko and John might prefer “The U.S. vs. John Lennon” to the other Lennon docs, but, on the whole, it’s not one you’d want to start your new Beatle fans with. It is, however, key to understanding why a man would have the music world at his feet yet essentially throw it away to follow his politics, instead; more importantly, it shows how far ahead of his time John Lennon really was.

Actors, Actresses, Doc of the Day, Documentaries, External Entertainment, External Movie DVDs, External Movies, Movie DVDs, Movies, Reviews

Journeyman 1.8: “Winterland”

November 13, 2007 /

It was odd enough for “Journeyman” to cast John Schneider as the host of a ‘70s swingers key party…but to cast him in the part for only one scene? (Granted, I believe it was his voice that showed up later on the phone, but still…) What’s the deal with Bo Duke anyway? He’s going to be showing up on “Nip/Tuck” this season as a rather affluent porno empire owner as well. Isn’t this the guy who used to be squeaky clean and promoted family values and the like? Has Pa Kent finally realized that working in Rome requires doing as the Romans do? (Perhaps Kevin McKidd gave him some tips about working in “Rome”?) Not that I’m complaining. Schneider’s paid his dues — I say let him swing and peddle smut. You’ll get no complaints from me.

But Schneider the swinger wasn’t the real bomb dropped this week: Livia is from 1948! Her entire relationship with Dan was a fluke. I didn’t see that one coming, did you? Just when I thought I was starting to figure them out… And the mysterious Dr. Langley showed up again, and again he said nothing, but seemed to know everything. Actually he did indicate that the government had a very keen interest in his work, and that Dan needed to be careful in that regard. (He certainly wasn’t surprised by Dan disappearance.) But Dan’s getting it from all sides at this point, isn’t he? It’s starting to seem like Dan’s only comfort zone is when he’s traveling. Back home the FBI’s breathing down his neck about the Dylan McLeen stash — which he got rid of at least some of in this episode. Actually, that wasn’t entirely clear: did he give all the money to the girl, or just some of it? If not, then where’s the rest? And then there was a matter of a certain $20 bill from the present that looked counterfeit in the past that’s haunting him as well. And how exactly did Jack end up with that in the last scene? I expect to a big turnaround where Jack’s concerned here shortly. He was more for his bro than ever before this week.

After the intensity of last week, this was clearly a transitional/setup episode, designed to spin the action around in another direction for the last third of the known season. There’s been so much talk of new series getting the axe because of the writer’s strike and it wouldn’t surprise me if “Journeyman” ended up being a casualty. On the other hand, the optimist in me is thinking that there’s a lot of paranoia going on, and the networks would be silly to just cancel all the new shows at this point. It’s only been a week since this thing started and it’s already ballooning up into the end of TV as we know it! NBC needs to start rerunning “Journeyman” over from the beginning after this run completes. Or have a marathon. Or something. Many people simply didn’t get into this show and this point would likely be confused if they tried. But if the nets don’t have any other product, it’s something they should consider. I know there’s a bigger audience out there for this show than the ratings system is showing and I’m surprised by how frequently I discover people watching it that I never would have guessed would be into such a show.

Journeyman, TV, TV Dramas, TV Sci-Fi

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