Category: Reviews (Page 56 of 120)

Old Show, New Season: “Damages”

January 5, 2009 /

If we were to organize those readers of Premium Hollywood who’ve watched the entire first season of “Damages” into two groups – the ones who watched it when it originally aired and the ones who watched it when it came out on DVD – and took a quick poll about why the latter group watched it on DVD, I’d guess a sizable number of people would say one of two things:

1. I missed the premiere, and when I tried to pick up the series a few episodes in, I felt like I’d already missed too much.
2. I missed an episode during the season, and I knew I’d never be able to figure out what happened, so I just decided to wait for the DVD.

Yeah, it’s true: “Damages” is that kind of show…and I should know, having been one of the people who missed the premiere. But when I got the Season 1 DVD set, I blew threw it as quickly as my schedule allowed. It was an enthralling thriller which managed to be that rare breed of legal drama which almost never set foot in a courtroom, with gripping performances from Glenn Close, Ted Danson, Rose Byrne, and Željko Ivanek and many a moment that left you breathless. In the end, Ellen Parsons (Byrne) went through hell and back, leading her to declare war on Patty Hewes (Close) by teaming with the FBI to bring her down from the inside, all the while maintaining a front and pretending to be her number-one employee.

Season 2 begins in approximately the same chronological manner as Season 1, starting in the present with a jarring opening scene, then jumping back in time to begin the process of explaining how things got to that point in the first place. How odd it feels, though, for the initial flashback scene to show Patty Hewes making an appearance on “Live with Regis and Kelly.” Not that we haven’t gotten the impression that Patty’s a major public figure in the world of law, but it feels rather jarring to see her in the comparatively day-glo lights of the “Live” stage. Still, you can also imagine it setting Patty up for a big fall when she waves Ellen onto the stage and declares to the studio audience and the millions of viewers watching at home that she’d be lost without her.

But will Patty fall this season? Well, if she doesn’t, it certainly won’t be for lack of Ellen trying to make it happen. “You just want to arrest Patti Hughes,” she says to her two FBI contacts. “I want to destroy her.”

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Actors, Actresses, External Entertainment, External TV, Reviews, TV, TV Dramas

The Garment Jungle

January 5, 2009 /

Two good directors are not necessarily better than one. This 1957 fact-inspired noirish black and white melodrama about union-busting gangsters in the clothing business was written by producer and veteran scribe Harry Kleiner and credited to classic-era directing mainstay Vincent Sherman, but the initial helmer was one of the most interesting younger mainstream filmmakers of his generation, Robert Aldrich — already a major talent, and with such classics as “Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?” and “The Dirty Dozen” still in his future. Apparently, Aldrich clashed with the film’s biggest name, Lee J. Cobb (“On the Waterfront”). Those on-set clashes might well explain the erratic quality of the acting from the usually outstanding Cobb as the driven head of a garment firm being undermined by Richard Boone (“Have Gun – Will Travel”) as his mobbed-up underling, while second-string swashbuckler Kerwin Matthews – just a year away from his career zenith in “The 7th Voyage of Sinbad” – is actually better than usual in modern garb as Cobb’s idealistic son…while future “Dr. No” Joseph Wiseman gets to do a bit of overacting as a guilt-stricken worker, and a young Robert Loggia (Tom Hanks’ dance partner from “Big”) steals the movie as an idealistic union organizer…and Gia Scala (“The Guns of Navarone”) elicits sympathy and looks beautiful as Loggia’s tragedy-stricken wife. The only problem is, all my run-on fanboyish links of “The Garment Jungle” to far better known films turns out to be somewhat more interesting than this rather overblown, preachy, bit of pro-union agitprop — heavy on speeches (even if I happen to agree with them) and long on hard to swallow deus ex machina plot points.

Click to buy “The Garment Jungle”

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Old Show, New Season: “10 Items or Less”

January 4, 2009 /

If you saw my review of the “10 Items or Less: The Complete First and Second Seasons” DVD set, then you already know that, although I like the show, I just feel like it ought to be funnier than it is. “Curb Your Enthusiasm” has proven over and over again that ad-libbed television can be hilarious, but in its first two seasons, “10 Items or Less” repeatedly demonstrated where its strengths lay – in its characters and its premises – but kept getting mired in punchlines that were only funny because they were weird, thereby seriously cutting into its replay value.

Unfortunately, Season 3 is already starting out with one strike against it, due to the departure of Jennifer Elise Cox from the cast. She was a great comedic foil for John Lehr as Leslie’s longtime crush, Amy Anderson, but I guess the producers must not have been able to figure out what to do with her character once she left Super Value Mart and came to work at the Greens & Grains. Instead, we’re introduced to Amy’s replacement at Super Value Mart: Mercedes P. Jones, played by Kim Coles (“Living Single”). She’s proven in the past that she’s a gifted comedienne, but aside from a brief bit about why her character has picked up the nickname “The Velvet Hammer,” her contributions to the 3rd season premiere are predominantly limited to reacting to other people’s lines and offering up generic sassy dialogue. Let’s hope she’s given more of an opportunity to shine creatively in future episodes.

The good news, though, is that the premiere is pretty damned funny even without utilizing Coles, and the reason why can be summed up in two words: turkey bowling.

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Actors, Actresses, External Entertainment, External TV, Reviews, TV, TV Comedies

Greetings to the New Show: “13: Fear is Real”

January 4, 2009 /

I wouldn’t have wanted to be in the programming department of The CW when the folks over there first heard that the Sci-Fi Channel had beaten them to the punch in the field of horror-themed game show, but I can only imagine the sigh of relief they released after taking a gander at “Estate of Panic.” I received a screener of the premiere episode, and I duly handed it over to my wife, whose fascination with scary movies is, if not quite an obsession, certainly a bit of a hobby; after watching it, she duly reported back that she had lost a great deal of respect for Steve Valentine for agreeing to host such a cheesy show, likening it more to “Fear Factor” than anything legitimately scary.

Even after this disappointment, however, I was still optimistic about The CW’s “13: Fear is Real,” if only because of the series’ executive producers: Sam Raimi, Robert G. Tapert, and Jay Bienstock. Horror fans will no doubt recognize the first two names, with Raimi having earned his genre stripes with the “Evil Dead” films and then teamed with Tapert to produce such flicks as “30 Days of Night,” “The Messengers,” “Boogeyman,” and “The Grudge.” Bienstock, meanwhile, is best known in reality-TV circles as the guy responsible for bringing “The Apprentice” to the airwaves. In theory, it’s hard to imagine that you could bring this trio together and not come up with a legitimately scary reality show.

The premise of “13: Fear Is Real” as laid out in the press release is thus: “Thirteen people compete to ‘stay alive’ as they face their deepest fears in an all-out elimination competition and scare-fest. Pitted against each other in situations straight from the horror movies, the 13 will face shocking surprises, psychological scares and lots of ‘beware of the dark’ moments, all designed by a ‘mastermind’ of terror.”

So, wait, is this when we cue the clip of Count Floyd saying, “Ooooh, scary“?

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External Entertainment, External TV, Horror Movies, Reality TV, Reviews, TV

Ludwig

January 2, 2009 /

Heavy hangs the head of the repressed homosexual and opera fanboy that wears the crown in the final major work from director Luchino Visconti. Featuring an all-star international cast (who, following the usual practice, are all painstakingly dubbed into Italian), this 1973 biopic of the so-called “mad king of Bavaria” successfully mixes 19th century European history and perhaps more than a touch of autobiography from Visconti — himself an openly gay aristocrat with a lifelong attachment to opera. “Ludwig” stars the aging director’s final companion, 28 year-old Helmut Berger, as the sympathetic, self-involved king who winds up spending way too much of his time and his nation’s wealth on an unrequited fantasy female love object (Romy Schneider, “What’s New Pussycat?”), his passion for the music and poetry of Richard Wagner (Trevor Howard), and ridiculously opulent castles to house what may or may not be all-male orgies. Naturally, his reign doesn’t exactly end on a high note.

Considering that Visconti was considered the founder of the real-time loving neorealist movement, and that this director’s cut clocks in at just under four hours, it’s no surprise that “Ludwig” feels at least an hour too long, particularly in the opening and closing sections. Nevertheless, the middle portions amply reward our patience, once Ludwig’s problems begin in earnest as Berger gradually devolves from the perfection of youth to a sadly seedy monarch cursed with teeth that would frighten the most inbred of English nobility. This somber extravaganza requires some patience, but its tragedy, horror, and beauty makes it worth the investment.

Click to buy “Ludwig”

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