Spin City: Michael J. Fox His All-Time Favorites, Volume One (review)

Michael J. Fox’s introductions to his favorite episodes of this ABC sitcom highlight perhaps the most important aspect of this 2-disc set: Spin City may well constitute his last live-action performances. In the recently shot video that precedes each episode, it’s obvious his Parkinson’s palsy has advanced to the point where acting would be difficult … more…

Smallville: The Complete First Season (review)

If you thought there was nothing new to be found in the Superman story, think again. This powerful reimagining of the tale of the alien child adopted by human parents who becomes the Man of Steel steps us back in time to explore Clark Kent’s teenage years, and the metaphor — discovering superpowers as the … more…

Helen of Troy (review)

As it turns out, the “real story” of “the most famous war in history” — the ten-year siege of Troy over the daughter of a god, the most beautiful woman in the world — isn’t really as exciting as it sounds, at least not to hear USA Networks tell it. This four-hour miniseries takes a … more…

Alias: The Complete First Season (review)

Sydney Bristow (Jennifer Garner: Daredevil) thought she was working for a black-ops arm of the CIA. She thought her estranged father (Victor Garber: Home Room) sold airplane parts. She thought she was going to marry her true love and live happily ever after. She thought wrong. After her fiancé is murdered and her father is … more…

DC 9/11: Time of Crisis (review)

If you get Showtime, just consider September’s subscription fee a donation to the Bush 2004 election campaign.

Tribeca ’03: Girlhood (review)

How often must we hear the same story over and over again before someone in a position to do something about it starts to listen? Oscar-nominated documentarian Liz Garbus relates a familiar tale — of horrible sexual abuse and parental neglect and indifference from the justice system — with a shocking, powerful intimacy that’s a … more…

Undergrads (review)

Four high school buddies go to college, and all of a sudden everything’s changed. Nitz (the normal one), Cal (the gay one), Gimpy (the geek), and Rocko (the meatball) suddenly find themselves dealing with frat rushes, making new friends, trying to get laid, living away from home for the first time, and all the attendant … more…

The Best of Designing Women (review)

It comes across as just slightly dated in a few spots today, but this 1980s sitcom broke new ground with its blunt feminism and independent heroines. Four Southern women run an interior design business, but, as in most sitcoms, they rarely do any work — instead, outspoken dame Dixie Carter, uncertain divorced mother Annie Potts, … more…

Rudy: The Rudy Giuliani Story (review)

Even vocal critics of former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani concede that on that terrible September morning two years ago, he was every bit the leader the city needed: a calming voice of reason and later, during the few remaining months of his term, the mourner-in-chief. But it’s too soon to have any real … more…