DVD/TV Series Review: The Good Place: Season 4

 

The 13-episode fourth and final season of The Good Place aired during the 2019/2020 TV season. All of the main cast members return for the final season, as do several of the major recurring cast members, including Marc Evan Jackson, Jason Mantzoukas, Maribeth Monroe, Tiya Sircar, Adam Scott, and Mya Rudolph. The guest stars this season included Timothy Olyphant and Nick Offerman playing themselves, Lisa Kudrow, and Mary Steenburgen (Ted Danson's real-life wife). The main plot of the fourth season revolves around the group attempting to prove that the point system, which determines whether someone ends up in The Good Place or The Bad Place, is fundamentally flawed. They are allowed to test their hypothesis through a series of experiments and, as has been the case in prior seasons, things do not always go as expected. 

The DVD set is a two-disc set. The bonus features include a gag reel and extended episodes. The season puts a very nice bow on the series. While it does stick to the comedy that worked for the first three seasons (and there are many laugh-out-loud moments), this season includes a lot more emotional drama, especially in the final episode. The series finale was an absolutely perfect ending to the show and was one of the best final episodes of any series I have watched. Because the show is essentially one long serial arc, you need to watch the prior seasons to fully follow what is happening in this one and get the most out of the experience. Ultimately, if you enjoyed the first three seasons, this is definitely worth watching. 

DVD/Movie Review: Sleepy Hollow

 

Sleepy Hollow is a 1999 horror film starring Johnny Depp, Christina Ricci, and Christopher Walken. This version is an adaptation of the story written and directed by Tim Burton (post his departure from the Batman movies). Johnny Depp plays Ichabod Crane, and Christina Ricci plays Katrina Van Tassel, the daughter of the richest man in Sleepy Hollow, whose residents are being picked off by The Headless Horesman (played by Christopher Walken and Ray Park performing the stunts). The supporting cast includes Miranda Richardson, Michael Gambon, Ian McDiramand, Christopher Lee (yes, Palpatine, Darth Maul, and Count Dooku in the same non-Star Wars movie), and Michael Gough (among others).

The DVD release had an okay video transfer. The extras included deleted scenes, behind-the-scenes material, and a commentary track by Tim Burton. Overall, a good amount of material for those who like bonus content.

The movie was excellent, with great acting and writing. It was an interesting choice to make Crane as eccentric as he was in the story, but not as goofy looking as he was written in the book (although Depp was willing to wear prosthetics). The love story between Depp and Ricci's characters was a bit creepy given their age difference, but there were no actual love/sex scenes between the two. The movie is very violent and gory (given the beheadings), so it is definitely not appropriate for young kids. Overall, however, it is a great adaptation of the story that is worth watching.

DVD/TV Series Review: The Killing: Season 4

 

++++Warning, this will contain spoilers about the end of season 3, but no major giveaways from season 4++++

The fourth and final season of The Killing aired on Netflix in the summer of 2014. As most readers will know, AMC canceled the show for a second and final time after season 3, which left it with a massive cliffhanger with the reveal that Skinner was the Pied Piper serial killer, and Linden basically executed him. Netflix revived the show for a 6-episode wrap-up that essentially features two parallel storylines. Holder and Linden's subsequent cover-up of Skinner's murder, and then trying to last out the investigation, and a final case to solve involving the murder of the family of a student at a military boarding school. Mirelle Enos and Joel Kinnaman both returned as Linden and Holder, Gregg Henry also returned, and Billy Campbell and Jewel Staite reprised their roles in what amounted to guest appearances. Joan Allen played the headmaster of the military academy, and Tyler Ross had a central role in the season's big murder mystery.

The DVD set is a two-disc made-on-demand set. So you just get the episodes alone, with no extras or captions, commentaries, etc. I think people who buy the set are going to be physical media collectors who just want it to complete their series collection.

My main complaint about the season is that the 6 episode run really made things feel rushed. They had to introduce tension into the Linden-Holder relationship that wasn't given enough time to play out, so it just felt very forced. They also had to quickly tell and wrap up the case, which in some ways was good in that they could not put in all the ridiculous twists that plagued seasons 2 and to some extent 3. The standout of the season was Joan Allen, who played the commander of a military academy that is involved in the second storyline of the season. It was clear from episode 1 that she played a large part in the case, and she did very well with the material. The last few minutes of the final episode flash forward years into the future and end the series on a satisfying note. Ultimately, while the season is not perfect, I do think they did as well as they could in the short amount of episodes they were given.

DVD/TV Series Review: The Killing: Season 3

 

The 12-episode third season of the series The Killing aired during the summer of 2013. It is set one year after the events of the Rosie Larsen case, which was the focus of Seasons 1 and 2, and is tied to a case that Linden (played by the returning Mireille Enos) had referred to during the Larsen case. At the beginning of the season, Linden had left the police department and was working for the transit authority. When Holder (played by the returning Joel Kinnaman) and his new partner discover a string of murders involving runaway teenagers, which points to Linden's prior case and brings into doubt the guilt of the man she arrested, Ray Seward (played by Peter Sarsgaard), who is on death row. The rest of the cast includes Elias Koteas, Bex Taylor-Klaus, Aaron Douglas, Jewel Staite, Ben Cotton, and Gregg Henry. 

The DVD set is a very bare-bones three-disc set. It just includes the episodes. There are no bonus features, and the episodes are not captioned. The actual episodes are very good. It is well-written and very well acted. It is a serial drama in which the storyline builds throughout the season. It does not have much action, but it does have some psychological thriller elements. The series maintains the gritty, real-world tone that the first two seasons had. Like the first two seasons, this one has its share of twists and turns, but the mystery is ultimately resolved by the end of the season, and it does not carry over into the fourth season (although the fallout from the season finale's events certainly does). It does contain some swearing, violence, and sexual content, so it is not appropriate for young kids. While events from the prior seasons are mentioned, you do not need to have watched the first two seasons to follow what is going on in this season. Ultimately, if you are a fan of murder mysteries, especially if you watched and enjoyed the first two seasons of the series, this one is worth watching.

DVD/Movie Review: ...And God Created Woman

 

And God Created Woman is the 1956 French romantic drama starring Brigitte Bardot, Curd Jurgens, Jean-Louis Trintignant, Marie Glory, Georges Poujouly, and Christian Marquand. It was directed by Bardot's then-husband, Roger Vadim. The movie is set in San-Tropez, France, where Bardot's character, Juliette, is an 18-year-old orphan whose outrageous (for the time) behavior makes her the subject of town gossip. To prevent her from being sent back to the orphanage until she turns 21, the town's wealthy real-estate developer tries to convince the eldest brother (Antione) of the family, whose land he is trying to purchase, to marry Juliette. While she wants to marry Antione, he is not interested in marrying her. His younger brother Michel, who is infatuated with Juliette, proposes to her, which she begrudgingly accepts. 

The Criterion DVD remasters the film quite well. It is not on the level of a Blu-ray or 4K-UHD high-quality restoration, but the film looks very good. The movie only has a French audio track (it does not have the English dubbed track that some versions of the movie include), but it can be played with English captions. It has a few bonus features, including the theatrical trailer (which is in English) and a featurette on the remastering process. 

The movie is definitely dated and feels like a product of the 1950s. It was, of course, the film that launched Bardot's popularity into the stratosphere as a sex symbol. It was also Vadim's (who should have been named "lucky bastard" since he married Bardot when she was 18, married Jane Fonda in her mid-20s, and dated several other gorgeous actresses) first film as a director. It does have some quick flashes of nudity, although you cannot really see much aside from a quick flash of side-boob, and some violence (highlighted by a hilariously awful fight scene about a third of the way through the movie). Ultimately, even though it would likely be made quite differently today than it was in 1956, and would probably not be found as entertaining or controversial today as it was back then, if you are a fan of classic films, it is worth watching.

DVD.Movie Review: Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword of Destiny

 

Sword of Destiny is a sequel to the 2000 movie Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. It stars Michelle Yeoh (who was the only cast member from the original film to return for the sequel), Donnie Yen, Natasha Liu Bordizzo, Jason Scott Lee, Harry Shum Jr., Eugenia Yuan, Roger Yuan, JuJu Chan, Chris Pang, Woo Young Park, and Darryl Quon. The movie is set 18 years after the events of the first film. In the movie, we learn a bit more about Shu Lien's (Yeoh's character) past and the man to whom she was betrothed. There is another fight for, and an attempt to steal, the Green Destiny, which is still at the home of the recently deceased Ser Te, and then there are some weird side plots.

The DVD is clearly not an official release. It can be played in a variety of languages (defaulting to Chinese), with an English audio track also available. The movie was actually filmed in English, even though it was released in Hong Kong and China before being released in the US. Therefore, if you watch it with the English audio track, you won't have to sit through bad overdubbing. It is also captioned in a few different languages, including English, but the English captions do not even slightly match what the characters are saying in the English audio track. Even though the DVD menu indicates there are bonus features, there is no way to select "bonus" from the menu; you can only play the movie, navigate the scene selection, or choose the audio and captions. The A/V quality is only okay, and there are some really bad (and cheesy) CGI effects in a couple of scenes.

The movie is okay, but nowhere near as good as the original film. It appears that the script was written with the hope that Zhang Ziyi would reprise her character from the first movie, and then the script was slightly altered when she did not. It features some good action sequences, some of which pay homage to scenes from the first film. I think it would have been better as a straight sequel to the first movie, telling what happened to Jen after she jumped from the mountain, and what Shu Lien did after Li Mu Bai's death. Ultimately, it is not a must-watch, but if you liked the first movie, it is interesting to check out. 

DVD/Movie Review: Bikini Summer

 

Bikini Summer is a 1991 late-night cable D-level comedy starring Melinda Armstrong, David Millbern, Kelli Konop, Shelly Michelle, Rebekah Alfred, and Alex Smith. It is one of those films that is something between the soft-core "Skinemax" movies that use real porn stars but don't show anything and the mainstream coming-of-age comedies of the mid to late1980s. It has a few plotlines (that are quite silly and stupid) that converge at the end, providing an excuse to hold a bikini contest fundraiser. However, the plotlines are mostly filler between scenes of models in various stages of undress. 

The DVD is a transfer from the VHS, and as you would expect from a low-budget comedy with no major stars, it did not get any kind of upgraded A/V transfer. The DVD is now out of print, so it can be hard to find at a reasonable price. There are no bonus features specific to the movie, just a bunch of trailers/previews for other low-budget direct-to-video movies that can be played from the main menu. Ultimately, the movie is a dumb comedy with several good-looking models in it. There is a bunch of nudity and some swearing (although not much of the latter). Despite the nudity, there are not really any sex scenes (only one that you mostly hear through a door). It is kind of a blast from the past if you grew up in the 90s and remember seeing it on TV, but you will not miss much if you skip it. 

DVD/Movie Review: The Big Town

 

The Big Town is a 1987 film starring Matt Dillon, Diane Lane, Tommy Lee Jones, Suzy Amis, Bruce Dern, Lee Grant, Tom Skerritt, and David Marshall Grant. The story is set in the late 1950s. In it, Matt Damon's character, J.C. Cullen, makes a living playing craps in a small town in Indiana. He decides to move to Chicago to become a professional gambler. He starts to work for two professional gamblers (played by Dern and Grant), gets mixed up with the owner of a strip club (played by Jones), and begins having an affair with the owner's wife (played by Lane), who hooks him into a revenge scheme. He also starts a romance with Amis' character, a single mother who wants to become a disc jockey and has to choose which life he ultimately wants. 

There are many versions of the DVD out there. I have the French import, so it can only be played on a Region 2 or Region free player. The menus are in French, and the audio track defaults to French, but you can play it with the English audio track, which plays with French subtitles. That version has no extras. The movie is okay, but not great. It has a similar style and tone to many late 1980s films that tried to recapture the film noir era style. It is absolutely dated, and there are some things in the movie (like a white character dropping the "n-word" and men smacking women) that would not fly today. It has a lot of swearing, some sexual content, and nudity. Lane has a few topless scenes (and they are spectacular) and a couple of sex scenes with Dillon. The acting is good, but the script was somewhat limited and did not give the cast (which included many excellent actors) much to work with. If you are a fan of the genre or any of the actors in the film, it is worth checking out, but it is not a movie that I would classify as a must-see. 

DVD/Movie Review: Ammonite

 

Ammonite is a romantic drama from 2020 starring Kate Winslet and Saoirse Ronan. It was written and directed by Francis Lee and loosely based on the life of a British paleontologist named Mary Anning. The supporting cast includes Fiona Shaw, Gemma Jones, James McArdle, and Alec Secareanu. In the film, Mary (played by Winslet) runs a shop in Lyme Regis in Dorset, England with her mother. An archeologist named Roderick Murchison (McArdle) visits the shop with his wife Charlotte (Ronan) who has been sent to Lyme Regis to convalesce after losing a baby, with the sea air being prescribed for her depression. Roderick initially pays Mary to teach him about fossil collecting and leaves Charlotte in Mary's care (much to both of their chagrin) for six weeks while he visits mainland Europe. When Charlotte gets sick, Mary cares for her, and the two fall in love and begin a sexual relationship. 

The DVD is a single-disc release. The only bonus feature is a short making-of featurette featuring interviews with Winslet, Ronan, and Lee. The film is a well-written and acted romantic drama. It definitely has the feel of an independent movie with a slower plot. About two-thirds of the way into the movie, there is some sexual content, including a nude sex scene between Winslet and Ronan. So, it is not exactly family-friendly, but it is not full of gratuitous sex and nudity. Ultimately, if you like independent dramas and are not triggered by same-sex relationships, it is worth watching.    

DVD/TV Series Review: Bull: Season 6

 

The 22-episode sixth season of Bull aired during the 2021/2022 TV season. It ended up being the show's final season when Michael Weatherly announced early on that he would not return after the sixth season, and the show was canceled. The season started with a huge cast shakeup as Freddy Rodriguez was written out of the series, with the excuse that Benny left NY to marry a woman he had been dating for a month and moved to Italy. It was later revealed that he and the series' showrunner, Glenn Caron, had been let go after some internal investigation. Yara Martinez (who plays Isabella) was promoted to a series regular and was involved in many of the season's storylines. The series does get a few notable guest stars, including Eric Stoltz (who also directed several episodes), and Jill Flint returned to reprise her role as Diana Lindsay in one of the episodes. There was also an episode that included flashbacks from prior seasons of the show, one of which included Cable (Annabelle Attanasio), who was killed off-screen in the first episode of season three.

The DVD set is a five-disc MOD set. The episodes are not captioned, and the only bonus feature is a short gag reel on the fifth disc. There are no deleted scenes, behind-the-scenes material, or series retrospective to wrap up the show. Given all the controversy the show has faced over its run, it is not all that surprising that there was not much in the way of behind-the-scenes material, but usually, when a show that has lasted for six seasons ends, some making-of content is included in the physical media releases. The season was good, but not as good as the first couple of seasons. The writers continued to mix procedural case-of-the-week storylines with serial arcs. Some of the serial arcs were short (just a couple of episodes), while others stretched throughout the season. The final two episodes had a storyline that allowed an excuse for Bull to leave TAC. Ultimately, the writers did a decent job wrapping up the series. Still, because they could not incorporate Benny into the storylines, it never felt that the show had a proper conclusion, given how large a role he played in seasons 1-5. If you stuck with the show up to this point, the final season is still worth watching, but I cannot say that everyone will find it satisfying.  

DVD/TV Series Review: The Good Doctor Season 2

 

++++Warning, this will contain season-one spoilers, but no major season-two giveaways++++

The 18-episode second season aired during the 2018/2019 TV season. It picks up shortly after the events of the first season, with Glassman having resigned as president of the hospital because of his brain cancer diagnosis and Dr. Andrews taking over. Shaun is obsessively "helping" Glassman through his treatment and continues his struggle to fit in as a surgeon and as a member of the surgical team.

There are some cast shake-ups this season, with some characters leaving and others getting a more expanded role or upped to series regulars. Most of the main cast members, including Freddie Highmore, Antonia Brown, Paige Spara, Richard Schiff, Hill Harper, and Nicholas Gonzalez, all return. Chuku Modu's character is written out, and Fiona Gubelmann, Chistina Chang, and Will Yun Lee all have expanded roles.  Daniel Dae Kim, who is an executive producer of the show, has a guest-starring arc about 2/3 of the way through the season, which shakes up things for everyone at the hospital. The show does a good job of providing the large ensemble cast with good material to work with and providing depth and development to the characters. We learn more about the backstories of Dr. Park, Dr. Lim, and, to a lesser extent, Dr. Reznick and Dr. Melendez. The season ends not so much on any cliffhangers for the characters but more as a set-up for big season-three storylines.

The DVD set is a five-disc set. The extras include deleted or extended scenes for most episodes, which are included as special features on each disc. Then, there is a gag reel and a handful of short behind-the-scenes features on the final disc. Excluding the deleted scenes, there are about 20 minutes of material and 45 minutes, give or take, if you include the deleted scenes. So, it has a decent amount of extras compared to what is being put out with the ever-fewer series that get physical media releases. One thing to keep in mind if you are in the United States is that only seasons 1-3 received a Region 1 release on DVD. The remaining seasons are available in Region 2 releases, so you need a Region 2 or Region-free DVD or Blu-Ray player to watch those (and likely pay a higher price for the DVD sets). 

DVD/TV Series Review: Bull Season 4

 

The 20-episode fourth season of Bull aired during the 2019/2020 TV season. It picks up months down the line from the events of the third season finale with Bull and Benny's big blowout over the revelation that Bull slept with Benny's sister. Benny is out of TAC taking any case that will come his way, and Bull is trying to find a replacement lawyer without much success. As you can expect, they eventually work things out, and things mostly return to normal at TAC.

The show continues to use a mostly procedural case-of-the-week format. The writers juggle the storylines for the large cast well, giving every character either a storyline or at least an episode centered on them. There is much less focus on TAC's jury selection process this season. In fact, it is skipped in some episodes, which generally makes the episodes flow better. The writers also tackle some real-world topics like the college admissions scandal and the myriad of high-profile sexual abuse/harassment cases, which is kind of ironic given the allegations made by Eliza Dushku against Weatherly after her recurring role in prior seasons.

The DVD set is a four-disc set. The extras include commentary tracks on the first episode and the episode that Weatherly directed. Then, there is a 15-minute behind-the-scenes featurette featuring interviews with the cast and crew, mainly focused on having to end the season early because of the COVID-19 pandemic. It is not a ton of bonus material, but more than is included for the handful of shows that still get physical media releases. The AV quality is definitely not as good as Blu-Ray sets, but a lot better than most MOD DVD sets.

Ultimately, the season is good. The show continues to be well-written and acted. You will probably like this one if you have been a fan of the show's prior seasons. On the other hand, if the show has not done much for you up to this point, nothing about this season is likely to change your mind.

DVD/TV Series Review: Bull Season 3

 

The 22-episode third season of Bull aired during the 2018/2019 TV season. It picks up months after the end of season two, which ended with Bull having a heart attack on the courthouse steps. Of course, he survives, but it is revealed he has been down in Arizona, getting in shape and stopping drinking. If you watch the bonus material, you will know it was planned out because Michael Weatherly expressed his plan to the showrunners to get back in shape, so they wrote the heart attack storyline. When he returns to NY, he finds some changes, some big, some small, have occurred in his absence at TAC. From there, the show mainly follows the "case of the week" format that it used in seasons one and two, but with less focus on jury selection and the mirror jurors as in the first two seasons and just get into the cases.

As most are aware, there is a major plotline at the beginning of the season, which was necessitated by one of the main cast members leaving to take a directing job. I will not give away who the person is and how the person is written off, but the storyline is wrapped up pretty early on. As the season goes on, all the characters get a chance to shine in their own stories, even if for just an episode. The show continues to do a good job juggling a large ensemble cast. There are some soap opera-like moments, mainly involving Bull's personal life, that get mixed into the weekly storylines, but the show's focus is still on the cases. The season does end on a bit of a cliffhanger, but different than last year's.

The DVD set is a five-disc set. The episodes can be played either in a "play all" mode or individually. The extras include deleted and extended scenes for select episodes, but the only way to see them is to play the episodes one at a time. They are not listed as separate special features, and if you do the play-all mode, it just kicks you to the main menu at the end of the last episode on the disc, and you will never see which episodes have deleted scenes. The remaining bonus content includes about 30 minutes of making-of, and behind-the-scenes material is included on the last disc. Not surprisingly, there was no mention of the allegations of Eliza Dushku against Michael Weatherly stemming from her short arc at the end of season one, despite it causing at least some controversy during season three.

Overall, if you have enjoyed the prior seasons, chances are you will enjoy this one unless you really liked the jury selection process that was a huge focus of the first two seasons. As I said above, that gets cuts way back this season. The show still does take some of the shortcuts that all legal dramas take, and while it does get some of the legal stuff correct, it is not perfect. That will probably only bug the lawyers out there, however. The acting and writing remain good, and I think the writers keep the show interesting. So, ultimately, if you liked the first couple of seasons this one is worth watching.

DVD/Movie Review: Chasers

 

Chasers is a 1994 comedy directed by Dennis Hopper and starring Tom Berenger, William McNamara, and original Baywatch babe and former model Erika Elaniak. The supporting cast included Crispin Glover, Dean Stockwell, and Gary Busey. Hopper also made a minor but funny appearance about 2/3 of the way into the movie. The film is part buddy-cop, part chase, and part romantic comedy. In it, two Navy shore patrollers (the Navy's version of military police and security), Eddie Devane (McNamara), who is a day away from being discharged, and Rock Reilly (Berenger), are assigned to transport prisoner Toni Johnson (Elaniak) from Camp Lejeune to their base, where she is to be transported to prison. She keeps trying to escape detention, causing a series of mishaps along the way. Along the way, Eddie and Toni fall in love, and he regrets having to turn her in.

The DVD is very bare-bones. It can be played with English captions, and the only bonus feature is the movie's trailer. The best way to describe the film is good but not great. The story is a bit predictable and formulaic, but it does have some funny moments. Berenger plays a great, no-nonsense but somewhat out-of-touch grump, and Elaniak and McNamara had pretty good chemistry (and both were ridiculously good-looking). Elaniak was a couple of years removed from Baywatch and absolutely gorgeous. The movie has a lot of swearing, some sexual content, and nudity. Elaniak is in lingerie a couple of times during the film, and there is a sex scene between McNamara and Elaniak about halfway into the movie where she is topless and shows her ass. So, it does earn its R-rating. While it is not the greatest movie ever, it does not try to be more than it is, and it has some entertaining moments. It is worth checking out as long as you don't expect it to be something it is not. 

DVD/TV Series Review: The Finder: The Complete Series

 

The Finder was a procedural drama that was a midseason replacement during the 2011/2012 TV season. It was a quasi-spinoff of the series Bones (and was developed by the series creator of Bones, Hart Hanson) and aired during Bones' timeslot when Bones was on hiatus. It was not a direct spinoff of Bones as none of the major characters from Bones joined the show as a series regular; however, John Francis Daley and T.J. Thyne each made guest appearances as their characters from Bones, and the series actually received a backdoor pilot during the sixth season of Bones. It only received a 13-episode initial pickup and was canceled without any additional episodes being ordered. The series suffered low ratings, likely due in part to the lack of star power in the cast and the fact that FOX, much like it did with the series Firefly, aired the episodes out of their intended order, so the story did not flow as well. 

The series starred Geoff Stults, Mercedes Mason, Maddie Hasson, and Michael Clarke Duncan in the leading roles. Stults played Walter Sherman, an Iraq war vet who retired after suffering a traumatic brain injury in a roadside blast that killed all the members of his unit and that allowed him to see connections and a compulsive desire to find things (as well as turning him into an eccentric recluse). Duncan plays Leo Knox, a former attorney who manages a bar and acts as Walter's manager, bodyguard, and legal advisor. Mason plays a US Marshal named Isabel Zambada, who has a friends-with-benefits relationship with Walter and helps with his cases. She is also putting herself through law school with the goal of becoming Attorney General of the United States. Maddie Hasson plays Willa Monday, a juvenile delinquent Romani gypsy who is part of a Romani crime family and betrothed to another member who she does not want to marry. She lives in a trailer on Leo's property and works in the bar while on probation. The show had a strong guest cast and recurring cast, including Eric Roberts, Amy Aquino, Jodi Lynn O'Keefe, Annette O'Toole, John Ashton, John Fogerty (who was also the music supervisor for the show), Nestor Serrano, Patrick Fabian, and Kelly Carlson.

The DVD set is a four-disc Region 2 set, meaning you need either a region-free or a Region 2 (European) DVD or Blu-Ray player to watch and play the discs. The episodes can be played with English captions, and there are about 20 minutes of bonus material on the fourth disc. The bonus features include a making-of featurette with interviews with the showrunners and cast members and a featurette on the Hodgins-centric episode featuring an interview with T.J. Thyne. 

The series is well-written, has a nice blend of humor and drama, and is very well-acted. It blends procedural case-of-the-week stories with serial arcs that span throughout the season. The writers did a good job developing the characters in the short run of episodes it received before it was canceled. Because it was canceled after 13 episodes, the mid-season finale became the series finale and ended on multiple cliffhangers, leaving several characters in limbo. So, just be aware that if you like the show, it does not end satisfyingly. Of course, even if the show had finished the first season and been picked up for a second season, Michael Clarke Duncan (who was the most recognizable cast member when the series premiered) passed away in September of 2012, and the series would have had a hard time continuing without him. Even though the series does not get a proper conclusion (it would have been nice if it could have received a proper wrap-up by featuring the cast members on Bones after it was canceled), it is still an entertaining series worth watching.       

DVD/Movie Review: Can't Hardly Wait: 10 Year Reunion Edition

 

Can't Hardly Wait is the underrated and often overlooked late 1990s coming-of-age teen comedy. It is overlooked mainly because American Pie was released a year later and became a massive hit and franchise. This movie, released in 1998, was co-written and directed by Deborah Kaplan and Harry Elfont. It stars Jennifer Love Hewitt, Ethan Embry, Seth Green, Lauren Ambrose, and Peter Facinelli. The supporting cast includes several recognizable faces (especially if you grew up watching TV and movies in the 1990s or early 2000s), including some who would become stars and/or appear in more prominent roles. They included Jason Segel, Jamie Pressly, Sean Patrick Thomas, Freddy Rodriguez, Donald Faison, Chris Owen, Selma Blair, Amber Benson, Clea Duvall, Breckin Meyer, and Eric Balfour. Jenna Elfman and Jerry O'Connell, who were more recognizable than the rest of the cast when the movie came out, had cameo appearances in the film. 

The movie is set during a graduation party in which all of the various high-school cliques show up. Several storylines occur in the movie, including Seth Green's character Kenny/Special K trying to get laid, the school geek Preston, finally taking his shot with the girl who doesn't know he exists (JLH's character, Amanda) who he has been pining after since freshman year and has just been dumped by the mega jock, Mike Dexter (played by Facinelli). Dexter is the subject of a humiliation plot by a group of nerds. Some of the storylines intertwine, and some are kept separate. Green is hilarious in the movie as the typical white suburban kid who thinks he is black, trying too hard to impress everyone. Hewitt does not do much in the film (besides looking pretty) until the end, and Facinelli plays a great asshole. It ultimately becomes a story of old friends reuniting, people from different high-school groups discovering (at least for a few moments) that they have something in common, and the guy trying to get the girl of his dreams. All mixed in with graduation party debauchery. 

The DVD release has many extras, including just under an hour of featurettes filmed in 2008, including interviews with Deborah Kaplan and Harry Elfont and several cast members discussing the film and what they think their characters would be doing ten years later. Then, there are deleted and extended scenes, the music video for Smash Mouth's "Can't Get Enough of You Baby," which featured members of the cast and clips from the movie, and two different commentary tracks on the film, one done for the original DVD release and one for the 2008 re-release. Deborah Kaplan, Harry Elfont, and Seth Green participated in both commentaries, and in the 1998 commentary, Faison, Facinelli, and Joel Michaely (one of the nerds) participated. In the original commentary track, Green started out using a British accent and seemed content to do it the entire time until Kaplan told him the joke was getting old, which Green brought up in the 2008 commentary. In the special features menu, a Special K 411 edition is listed, which appears to be another commentary track that would just feature Green in-character commenting on the movie, but it just plays the original 1998 commentary track again. 

Ultimately, the movie is a well-written and acted comedy that mixes in some drama. It does feel dated now, and certainly, some of the jokes they used would not be used today. It was not as raunchy as American Pie, and while there was some sex and a lot of swearing and drinking, there was no nudity. Most of the actual drinking was kept off-camera to keep the movie PG-13, and when we did see people drink, the actor was drinking non-alcoholic beer. Overall, the movie was pretty tame, especially by today's standards. While I would not say that it is as good as American Pie (or any of the American Pie movies with the main cast members) or that it is the best film in the coming-of-age comedy genre. That said, it is enjoyable and absolutely worth watching.

DVD/TV Series Review: The Librarians Season 4

 

The ten-episode fourth and final season of The Librarians aired from the winter of 2017 to the spring of 2018. Although it was not intended to be, this ended up being the final season of The Librarians, which was spun off from the various made-for-TV movies that Noah Wyle made after he left ER. The fourth season essentially followed the prior seasons in that it set up the major storyline of the season in the first episode, then had story-of-the-week episodes as fillers while interweaving the larger story arc here and there. I will not go into the major story arc too much, just to say it involves a former guardian whose loyalties are questioned.

The show continued to give all the characters depth and balanced out the storylines for them well. We finally got a Jenkins-centric episode (which was directed by Lindy Booth), which John Larroquette knocked out of the park. Wyle also has a larger role this season since he was not splitting time between this show and the series Falling Skies as he was in the prior seasons. Rebecca Romijn, John Kim, Christian Kane, and Lindy Booth all do great jobs with their characters, and the series continued to be well-written and acted. This season's guest and recurring stars include Rachel Nichols, John Noble, Richard Kind, Steven Weber, and Gloria Reuben, among others.

The DVD set is a three-disc set. The extras this season include writer and director blogs for select episodes and commentary tracks on every episode (usually with the writer and director of the particular episode and sometimes with one or more members of the cast). A decent amount of material, but not as much as there had been in prior seasons. You do learn, if you listen to the commentary for the final episode, that they just found out before recording it that TNT had canceled the show. While the season was not written to be the final season, and the last episode was not written to be a series finale, the show, thankfully, did not end on a major cliffhanger this year, so you are not left wondering about a storyline or an event that will not have a payoff. You are, however, left to wonder where the show would have gone as a next step.

Overall, the show is well-written and acted. I did not feel like it was getting too stale, and I think it could have easily had another season. It would have been nice if the showrunners were given a season that they knew would be the last one to see exactly how they would have ended the show with a proper series finale. Dean Devlin had held out hope that the show would get picked up by another network, but so far, it does not seem like it will happen now that we are two years (as of this writing) removed from the cancelation, plus the complication COVID has on the shooting schedules for all the shows and movies that were in production when the pandemic shut everything down. And, given the show had more of a cult following than it ever had mass popularity, I do not think it will likely be picked up. But, if you are a fan of the show, it is definitely worth checking out the season, even knowing that you will not get a true series finale.

DVD/Movie Review: Daddio

 

Daddio is an independent film from 2023 directed by Christy Hall and starring Dakota Johnson (who is also a producer) and Sean Penn. The movie's premise is quite simple but works very well. Johnson's character, who is just called "Girlie," takes a cab driven by Penn's character, Clark, home from the airport. During the ride, the two strike up a conversation that includes topics ranging from the role of technology in our lives to relationships and power dynamics between men and women. Almost the entire movie is set in the cab, with the two characters talking between the divider.

The DVD release is very bare-bones. It just contains the movie, which runs about an hour and a half and can be played with or without English captions. There is no behind-the-scenes material, deleted scenes, or other bonus content. The movie is excellent and plays to both Johnson's and Penn's acting strengths. Johnson is much better when she is not trying to play a seductress (which absolutely does not suit her). Penn (regardless of what you think of his personal life and beliefs) does a great job in any role he takes on, especially dialogue-driven roles. The movie does have some sexual content, mainly in the form of explicit text messages between Girlie and the man she is seeing that occur during the cab ride. Those include naked pictures. However, there are no actual sex scenes or "live" nudity. Ultimately, it is a well-written and acted drama. If you are a fan of either actors and/or independent films as a whole, this is absolutely worth watching.

DVD/TV Movie Review: The Client List

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DVD/TV Series Review: Hawaii Five-0 Season 9

 

The 25-episode ninth season of Hawaii Five-0 aired during the 2018/2019 TV season. I will not do much of a review of the show, as anyone looking at this by now knows what the show is and the majority of the characters. I will say that the show continues to blend procedural and serial storylines, doing callbacks to earlier seasons along with the case-of-the-week episodes. The series also continues to pay homage to the original series (this time, using the 200th episode to do a play on the pilot episode of the original series). The show also continues to do some character development, giving backstories and side stories for almost all of the characters, especially Tani and Junior. We also get a Joe White episode (with Terry O'Quinn reprising his role) and a Catherine episode (bringing back Michelle Borth). Taryn Manning reprises her role as Steve's sister, Mary and Mark Dacascos reprises his role as Wo Fat. The season ends on a large cliffhanger, going into the 10th and final season of the show.

The DVD set is a six-disc set. While it does include some extras, they are very bare-bones. Deleted scenes are spread throughout all the discs, then there is a short (4.5-minute) gag reel and a 20-minute behind-the-scenes featurette on the final disc. As others have noted, the final two episodes are swapped on the DVD. Making it more confusing, the menus on the title screen are correct, listing the episodes in order, but they play in the wrong order. So, unless you are careful, you will see the season-ending cliffhanger before the episode that sets up the events of the final episode. Of course, over time, the studios have been putting out increasingly poor-quality DVDs with fewer extras. So, the only reason to buy this (especially if you subscribe to Paramount+, where you can stream it) is to keep your DVD collection complete (if you prefer physical media to streaming).