Category: Reviews (Page 104 of 120)

“You think you know a story, but you only know how it ends; to get to the heart of the story, you have to go back to the beginning.” So it is said at the beginning of the opening credits for Showtime’s new series, “The Tudors.”

I know, I know: new is relative. The show premiered on April 1st – in fact, it was the highest rated debut for any original series in the history of the network – so I’m probably one of the last people to get around to investigating this show, but I’ve finally had the chance to check out the first few episodes, and lemme tell ya, it ain’t bad.

Now, of course, by “it ain’t bad,” I first and foremost mean that it’s full of sex and violence, two things that tend to make any show worthy of investigation by a red-blooded American male. Understand that I’m not looking to dumb it down by claiming that those are the only two reasons to check it out; it’s just that there are no less than four sex scenes in the first episode alone, so it’s not as though you can really ignore that particular aspect of the series.

The series – intended to run for only 10 episodes – explores the early years of the reign of King Henry VIII of England. Jonathan Rhys Meyers stars as the King, and he does a fine job, but the real star of the show is Sam Neill, who plays Cardinal Wolsey; his performance might not be up the the standards set by Orson Welles and John Gielgud in their respective turns in “A Man for All Seasons,” but there’s little question that he raises the level of class within “The Tudors” considerably. The stand-out amongst the more fresh faces of the cast is Steven Waddington, who plays the Duke of Buckingham.

The show looks gorgeous, flows along at a rapid clip, and it’s extremely easy to get caught up in it; I’m not always swept up in period pieces so immediately, but “The Tudors” captures your attention from the start. Yes, as the narration freely admits, you do know how this story ends…but the events leading to that point are not quite so well-documented in film or on television. Given the the explicit nature, you won’t be seeing this show up on a necessary-viewing list for any high school history classes, but “The Tudors” continues to build Showtime’s slate of high-quality original programming to levels which should have HBO concerned.

UPDATE: So much for that 10-episode plan. Showtime has renewed the series for a second season. Sweet, does this mean it’s time to start making shit up?

If you’re a regular NPR listener…and if you’re not, why aren’t you?…you’re probably familiar with “This American Life.” Hosted by Ira Glass, it’s a show that offers a glimpse into the lives of ordinary people and manages to make them seem extraordinary. The topics are wide and varied, and it’s a longstanding hallmark of the series that you’ll find yourself enthralled to the point where, if you’re been driving home from work and listening to the show on your car radio, you will sit in your driveway until the story’s over. (Indeed, there’s a collection of the best moments from the series, called “Driveway Moments.”)

Some of the holier-than-thou National Public Radio listeners are no doubt freaking out at the thought that their beloved show is not only coming to television but, in fact, to a cable network to which they’ll have to subscribe to even be able to catch it. Well, after watching the first four episodes, let me assure those folks that, although waiting around for the inevitable full-season set isn’t the worst idea in the world, you won’t be wasting your money if you sign up for Showtime. the network’s take on “This American Life” is absolutely as perfect a transition to television as the show could possibly have managed. Sure, purists may find that, ironically, adding a visual element to the show actually takes away from the effect of listening to these stories…but how many times have you listening to an episode and thought, “Geez, I wonder what these people look like?” Well, now you’ll know. Okay, so you might find Ira Glass a little creepy-looking (my wife was very disconcerted to find that he somehow didn’t look anything like she thought he would, based on his voice), but it’s very cool the way they have him sitting behind a desk at various locations – in a field, in a parking lot – to introduce the segments.

Three of these four episodes are a must-see – the last one, which starts off being about a guy who can identify what a man’s like by the beard he sports but turns out to be a treatise on family and religion, is interesting but a little slow – but the one that’s arguably the most enthralling – at least to a music geek like yours truly – is the one which is narrated by the stepson of Frank Garcia, formerly the bassist for ’80s one-hit wonders Oxo. (You remember “Whirly Girl,” don’t you? “Let me tell you ’bout a girl I know / She’s been to Paris, France / And she can really dance“). I’m sure he’s not the only such person who’s descended into alcoholism while still bragging about his moment of chart glory, but, wow, you rarely see them so exposed on camera. And the thing is, the episode is really more about the relationship between stepson and mother…but Garcia’s so integral to their story that you can’t help but learn a great deal about him as well. There’s also a great episode about a guy who decides to give a band their Best Gig Ever by filling their NYC show with a crowd of folks who are cheering, dancing, and singing along…and how it doesn’t entirely thrill them when they discover after the fact that it wasn’t real.

In just these four episodes, you’ll go through more emotions than you have fingers. I can’t wait to see what the rest of the season brings.

We got our hands on the premiere episode of A&E’s new reality series, “Sons of Hollywood” – which begins on April 1st – and based on what we’re seeing here, we’re guessing that the network is going to have an uphill battle on its hands promoting this as a must-see show.

The series documents the lives of two famous celebrity offspring – Sean Stewart (Rod’s son) and Randy Spelling (Aaron’s son / Tori’s brother) – and their manager, David Weintraub, who’s also been their friend since childhood; basically, we watch as Sean and Randy careen through their lives of luxury, but with the exception of one subplot…and, frankly, it feels very weird referring to an actual event in someone’s life as a “subplot”…there’s very little for anyone to latch onto. Weintraub’s a professional who’s trying to keep his friends / clients on the straight and narrow, but they tend to be more interested in sleeping, golfing, drinking, and gambling. (Not necessarily in that order, you understand.) Given that the show’s slogan is “Real Life, Only Better,” one supposes that viewers are supposed to look at the goings-on and say, “Wow, I wish my dad was famous, because if he was, then my life would clearly be awesome!” But you can’t really look at these guys and imagine yourselves in their shoes. The only time you feel any sort of empathy towards either Sean or Randy is when Randy deals with the emotional turmoil of his father’s impending death; he knows he’s sick and that death is immiment, and for a few minutes, you can actually see past the spoiled rich kid exterior. But the moment is gone far too quickly…

We’re not going to completely write off “Sons of Hollywood” based on this single episode; we’ll definitely check it out and see where things go from here. After all, the show ends to the strains of The Thrills’ “Hollywood Kids” and its sarcastic lyric, “Those Hollywood kids got it made,” so maybe we’ll see David helping Sean and Randy shape up and actually do something halfway important with the power and money that’s attached to their name. But it had better happen pretty quickly.