Month: February 2006

Project Runway: The Complete First Season (review)

The coarseness of spirit that every reality show evinces is a depressing reminder of the boorishness of contemporary American society: reality “entertainment” may be the 21st-century version of the game show, but the reveling that accompanies the dispatch of the losers is appalling, the suspense mined from the “who’s gonna get voted off?” dismal. And … more…

Elizabeth I: The Virgin Queen (review)

Now, this is what history should be, full of passion and intrigue and drama! Lush in every possible way — visually, emotionally, even musically — this British TV production, which aired on PBS’s Masterpiece Theater in the U.S., is an absolutely riveting retelling of the reign of the most famous daughter of Henry VIII. Anne-Marie … more…

SeaQuest DSV: Season One (review)

The buzz is that devoted fans of this sci-fi series got so frustrated waiting for this long-time-coming DVD release, they made this the most-bootlegged series ever, with homemade discs burned from videotaped episodes selling like hotcakes on eBay. Additional buzz has it that this set was rushed out in an attempt to cut off that … more…

Ferris Bueller’s Day Off: Bueller… Bueller… Edition (review)

Aptly named. Like Ben Stein’s deadpan homeroom roll call — “Bueller? Bueller?” — signifying the original slacker’s absence from school, Matthew Broderick (The Producers) is strikingly absent from this new edition of his defining movie. Oh, sure, there are a bunch of new extras that were not on the original DVD release — behind-the-scenes footage … more…

Dark Shadows: The Revival (review)

I mean it as the highest of compliments when I say that the return of the campy 1960s daytime serial is deliciously, histrionically goofy: the performances are hilariously awful, the plot ridiculously soapy, the general outrageousness of it just gloriously absurd. This is the entirety of the short-lived 1991 NBC series, 12 episodes of steely-eyed … more…

Happy Here and Now (review)

There’s supposed to be an enticingly seedy quality to everything happening in this “high-tech” thriller, but don’t be fooled: it’s nothing but the artistic pretensions of writer-director Michael Almereyda at play, and they’re really goofy. A teenage girl’s (Liane Balaban: World Traveler) search for her missing sister leads her to David Arquette’s (It’s a Very … more…

Sexual Intelligence (review)

Naughty and nice, this TV documentary is little more than an excuse to have the lovely Kim Cattrall (Ice Princess) chat coquettishly to the camera about all things sexual. But there’s a lively playfulness to this exploration of desire and attraction that ensures it’s never lurid, always charming. Explorations of the depiction of phalluses in … more…

Fame: The Complete First Season (review)

It’s kinda the TV version of those cheerfully cornball old-fashioned movies in which someone chirps, “Hey, kids, let’s build a stage in the barn and put on a show!” Here the kids are students at New York’s High School for the Performing Arts, so they’ve already got the stage, but they’re constantly organizing themselves to … more…

The Outer Limits: Season One (review)

Science fiction in the visual realms — film and TV — frequently bears little resemblance to its bookish cousin, which makes this new incarnation of the 1960s anthology show a particular joy. The 21 episodes here, from the series’ 1995 first season on the Showtime cable network, are intelligent, literate, even provocative: just what science … more…