Blu-Ray/TV Series Review: Better Call Saul: Season 1

 

Better Call Saul is the series spun off from the iconic crime-drama Breaking Bad. It is centered around the "criminal" lawyer Saul Goodman. It was created by Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould, the co-creators of Breaking Bad. It stars Bob Odenkirk, Rhea Seehorn, Jonathan Banks, Michael Mando, Patrick Fabian, and Michael McKean. The first season's recurring cast includes Kerry Condon, Julie Ann Emery, and Jeremy Shamos. The ten-episode first season aired in the winter and spring of 2015. The first episode starts out after the events of Breaking Bad, where we see that Saul is indeed working as a manager at a Cinnabon (paying off on the line from Breaking Bad when Saul was about to skip town) in Omaha, Nebraska, under the name Gene. He lives a drab life as a fugitive, longing for his old life. Then, the series flashes back to Albuquerque in 2002, before the events of Breaking Bad (the time period most of the series is set in). We see Saul working under his real name, James/Jimmy McGill, as a struggling solo practitioner who is working on public defender cases for $700 a pop, living and working out of a storage room in a nail salon, trying to drum up clients, and being a caregiver for his brother, Chuck (played by McKean) who was a named partner in one of the largest firms in Albuquerque (HHM) but is not a shut-in because of a hypersensitivity to electromagnetic fields. Chuck has disconnected all the electricity from his house using a lantern and gas stove, and relying on Jimmy to fill a cooler with food and ice. Jimmy's best and seemingly only friend is an associate at HHM named Kim, and Mike Ehrmantraut (played by Banks, reprising his role from Breaking Bad) is working as a toll booth operator at the courthouse. Like Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul is mostly a serial that slowly tells the story of how Jimmy transforms into Saul Goodman. It also has some story-of-the-week procedural elements that are usually secondary to the serial arcs.

The Blu-Ray set is a three-disc set, with the episodes and the bonus content spread across the three discs. The set has a lot of bonus material, including deleted scenes, a gag reel, a conversation between Odenkirk and McKean about their respective careers and their characters on the show, and some behind-the-scenes material. Each episode has a commentary track featuring Gilligan and/or Gould, the writer of the episode, the director and/or a producer, and one or more cast members. The seventh episode has a second commentary track just featuring Julie Ann Emery and Jeremy Shamos in character as their characters, Betsy and Craig Kettleman hilariously reacting to the episode. The episodes can be watched in a "play all" mode or from their own episode pages (which is where the commentary tracks and deleted scenes are accessed). You can stop the disc and pick up where you left off when you resume playing, even when watching the bonus material.

The series is a wonderful spin-off of Breaking Bad. It is well-written and very well-acted. Throughout the season, we see Jimmy transform from a small-time con artist, turning his life around to secretly get a law degree, pass the bar exam, become a very good lawyer, and sowing the seeds of who he would become as Saul Goodman. Odenkirk is fantastic as the series lead, but all the actors are wonderful. While we know the fates of some of the characters (and there are more than just Banks and Odenkirk who reprise their roles from Breaking Bad), the show pulls off the balance of setting up what will come later with telling its own story and standing on its own. Like the parent series, it is very much an adult drama. There is a lot of swearing, violence, and a bit of sexual content. The bonus material contains spoilers, so if you did not watch the series when it aired, you want to watch the episodes before you listen to the commentaries or watch the behind-the-scenes material. Ultimately, the show is an excellent mix of legal, crime, and character-driven drama with some humor. You do not need to have seen Breaking Bad to get what is going on in Better Call Saul, but some things will make more sense if you have. If you have watched Breaking Bad, this is a must-watch. Even if you have never seen a single episode of Breaking Bad, however, this is absolutely worth your time to watch.

DVD/TV Series Review: The League Season 4

 

The 13-episode fourth season of The League aired during the fall and early winter of 2012. Chances are, anyone reading a review of the fourth season of the series will know what it is about, so I will not spend much time on the substance of the storylines. The season follows a similar format to the first few seasons, but there are more callbacks to earlier episodes, jokes, etc., in this season than in the prior seasons. But, for the most part, it is all about the group's weekly matchups and the trash-talking that went along. There are many more cameos by NFL players, including in the season premiere, which was filmed at the Cowboy's training camp. There are also a couple of hilarious episodes set around Jenny and Kevin's new baby.

The DVD set is a two-disc set. The extras are similar to those included in the prior seasons' DVD releases. A gag reel, an alternate jokes reel, deleted scenes, and Taco Tones (mostly replays of the musical numbers). There is no longer an extended episodes option on the episodes menu. The DVDs have uncensored versions of the episodes, meaning some f-bombs and nudity are mixed in. So, not that the show was a good one for young kids to watch anyway, but even less so since you cannot play the broadcast versions vs. the uncut versions.

Overall, the series remains very funny. The writing and acting are still top-notch, and for a show that is centered around fantasy football, it is enjoyable for those who do not play fantasy football, or even like football all that much. Although, I do think it helps to do both. It is definitely one of the better adult sitcoms of the recent past.

Blu-Ray/Movie Collection Review: The Karate Kid I & II (Collector's Edition)

 

This is a collector edition Blu-Ray featuring the first two Karate Kid movies starring Ralph Macchi and Pat Morita, 1984's The Karate Kid and the 1986 sequel, The Karate Kid Part II. The first movie was an adaptation of the proverbial 98lb weakling being bullied, said weakling being played by Ralph Macchio. He plays Daniel Larusso, who is forced to move from NJ to CA with his mother when she gets a new job. They live in a run-down apartment with an odd janitor (played by Pat Morita) from Okinawa named Mr. Miyagi. As Daniel starts a new school, he tries to win the affection of Elisabeth Shue's character Ali, whose ex-boyfriend Johnny ( played by William Zabka) is not over her and takes to beating the snot out of Daniel regularly. Daniel checks out the local karate Dojo, the Cobra Kai Dojo, only to discover that Johnny is the head student there. It is run by a crazy ex-military vet (played by Martin Kove) who encourages bullying behavior. When the Cobra Kai kids jump Daniel outside the apartment complex, Miyagi saves him and starts training him in Karate.

The first movie has many great themes, such as family, friendship, bullying, self-defense, etc., that still hold up 30-plus years later, even if the cheesy music montages and over-acting that were the hallmarks of 1980s movies have long since gone out of style.

The second movie, other than the first few minutes, takes place six months after the events of the first movie. In it, Daniel and Miyagi travel to Okinawa when Miyagi gets word that his father is near death. When they arrive, they are caught up in a decades-old honor feud and grudge that Miyagi's ex-best friend Sato (played by Danny Kamekona) still has for him. While there, Daniel falls in love with a local woman named Kumiko (played by Tamlyn Tomita), the niece of Miyagi's old love interest, Yikie (played by Nobu McCarthy). Sato's nephew, Chozen (played by Yuji Okumoto), feels disrespected by Daniel and the two battle throughout the movie, culminating in a very good fight at the end of the movie.

I will not give away more about either movie in case anyone reading this has not seen either one. These are definitely the two best movies of the four that were made. A case can be made for the argument that Part II is as good or better than the original. However, I think most people believe the original movie is the best. 

The Blu-Ray set is a two-disc set, with one disc for each movie. The blu-ray transfers are okay for both movies, but not a total HD restoration. I don't think one was necessarily needed for these movies, but it would have been a nice touch. The first movie has the most extras. Each one has a "Blu-Pop" version of the movie in which pop-ups with information about the movie appear throughout the movie (kind of like the old pop-up video show on VH1 for those old enough to remember that). The first movie has a two-part making-of feature of about 45 minutes combined and a cast and crew commentary track. The second movie just has the Blu-Pop version and a short making-of featurette.

Overall, the movies are good and hold up relatively well. There are certainly parts of each movie that are dated 30+ years down the line, but they are generally good movies with good messages and will definitely evoke a nostalgic feeling in those of us who were kids in the 1980s.

DVD/TV Series Review: The League Season 3

 

The 13-episode third season of The League aired during the fall and winter of 2011. This is the season where the show really hit its stride. It did not deviate (much) from the format of the prior seasons, although it did focus more on what I would call the "side" stories that were going on with the various characters unrelated to the fantasy football stuff. And, the show did more callbacks to events that occurred in earlier episodes, as opposed to having each episode be stand-alone. All of the series regulars returned for the third season. There were many notable guest stars during the season, including Jeff Goldblum as Ruxin's dad, Sarah Silverman as Andre's sister, Eliza Dushku as a Krav Maga instructor in the class Kevin is taking, Ray Liotta as Ruxin's boss, as well as a few NFL players.

The DVD set is a two-disc set. As with the prior seasons' DVD releases, you have the option of playing all the episodes as they aired or going into the "episodes" portion of the menu and playing the extended versions of the episodes. The extras include deleted scenes, alternate jokes, a gag reel, and "Taco Tones" with the various musical numbers from the season.

Overall, the show is very funny if you like the brand of humor and does not take itself too seriously. You do not have to be a football fan or play fantasy football to enjoy the show, but I think it helps to understand some of the jokes if you at least have a passing familiarity with the NFL. The actors seem to all get along with each other, which really helps in an ensemble show like this, and they have fun with the characters. It is well written and acted and is definitely worth checking out.

Blu-Ray/TV Series Review: Mr. Robot: Season 3

 

+++Warning, this has spoilers from seasons 1 and 2, but no major season 3 giveaways+++

The 10-episode third season of Mr. Robot aired during the fall and early winter of 2017. This season brings the show back into the "real world" after spending much of season 2 in Elliot's head while he was in prison. It is still about the fallout of the 5/9 hack of E Corp. and setting up a much more massive phase-two attack that was hinted at last season. This season reveals more about the Dark Army and the various operatives they have working for them. It also reveals what Wellick did during season 2, for which he was mostly absent. I will not go into too much of what happens this season because it is hard to do so without giving too much away. I will say that the various characters, even the "good" ones, continue to be morally ambiguous (at best). And some even take a turn for the worse.

The Blu-Ray set is a three-disc set. The extras are okay but not extensive. There are deleted scenes for some episodes, a gag reel, and a couple of behind-the-scenes featurettes. It is definitely not a show that will appeal to everyone. But, if you liked the first couple of seasons (especially season 1), you will probably like this. The blu-rays have unedited episodes (which basically means the f-word is not bleeped out as it is when it airs on TV), and there is violence, sex, and drug use. And, even though the show is set in the past, it does manage to take a few shots at t***p, whom, if you follow the show's creator on Twitter, you know he despises. So, if any of that would turn you off to a show, you probably want to skip this. For everyone else, it is well written and acted, even it is a bit (and sometimes more than a bit) weird. Definitely worth checking out.

DVD/TV Series Review: The Gifted Season 2

 

++++Warning, this contains season 1 spoilers, but no major season 2 giveaways++++

The 16-episode second season of The Gifted aired during the 2018/2019 TV season. It ended up being the series' final season, as it was canceled without getting a full season run. It is a bittersweet end because the season was very good, and the writers were clearly setting up a third season that would have taken the show in a different direction, but the show was canceled after the season aired. However, it provided a decent ending to the initial storyline that was the focus of season one.

This season can best be summed up by mutants vs. mutants vs. humans. One team of mutants consisted of the inner circle, formed after Lorna and Andy decided to go with the triplets and split from the mutant underground. Both groups faced a threat from a group of anti-mutant humans, eventually led by Jace after his dismissal from sentinel services, who are basically a group of vigilantes who hunt down mutants. Peter Gallagher (of The OC and Covert Affairs) comes in part-way through the season to play an anti-mutant television personality who stirs up trouble. In large part, the entire season is a metaphor for today's political climate.

Every episode provides a back story for each main character told through flashbacks. It is the main vehicle for character development this season. I will not give too much of the story away, but the crux of the season is about stopping an all-out war between mutants and humans.

The DVD set is a four-disc set. It is a basic MOD set with no extras of any kind and no subtitles. The set has 16 episodes, which can be played individually or in a play-all mode. So, the only reason to get this is if you bought season one on DVD and want it to have both seasons. Otherwise, there is no benefit that you will get with the DVDs versus streaming the show.

Book Review: Foreign Agent (Scot Harvath Series # 15)

 

Foreign Agent, published in 2016, is the 15th novel in Brad Thor's series of action-thrillers centered around Scot Harvath. The plotline involves a series of attacks against Americans in the Middle East who were planning to move against the social media director of ISIS. It is discovered that the attacks were planned and bankrolled by the Russians, and Harvath is sent to Syria to take out those responsible. The secondary plotline involves a mole inside the US government working for the Russians, who fed them the information that led to the attacks. 

The hardcover version of the book is moderately long, coming in at just over 330 pages. It reads like the other books in the series, so it will read as quickly or as slowly as the others have. You do not need to have read the prior books to understand the plot of this one. While Thor does refer to events in the prior novels occasionally, the series' books mostly have standalone storylines. The thing you lose by not reading the previous books is the character development of the established characters. Thor relies on the earlier novels to provide the backstories of the established characters and only fleshes out the backgrounds of new characters. There are a handful of new characters in this book, some of who may appear in later novels and others who probably will not. Ultimately, the book is a well-written action thriller. This one is worth reading if you are a fan of the genre (and the spy novel genre) and/or Thor's prior novels.

DVD/TV Series Review: The League Season 2

 

The 13-episode second season of The League aired during the fall and winter of 2010. It continued to be a very funny adult comedy set around a group of friends who play in a fantasy football league. If you liked or loved the first season, the second season follows the same format. There is usually some story involving the lives of one or more characters, but overall, the focus is on the group busting on each other about their weekly matchups, their teams, etc. If you were a fan of season one, you will likely enjoy season two.

As the show gained in popularity, they were able to get more guest stars from the NFL, for example, Chad Johnson/Ochocinco guest starred in the first episode which was set in Vegas. The DVD set is a two-disc set. For those who get the DVDs, like the first season release, you can play all episodes in a "play all" mode from the main menu, but that option plays the broadcast versions. If you go into the episode menu, you can play extended, unedited episodes (when available) but have to play them individually. For extras, there are deleted scenes for most of the episodes, an alternate joke reel, a gag reel, a couple of Taco-specific musical numbers, and a hilarious Bob Ross impersonation by Andre doing a paint-by-numbers routine with "The Kluneburg," which was the subject of one of the episodes.

Overall, it is definitely not a show that will appeal to everyone, but if you are a fan of sarcastic, sometimes potty-mouth-trash-talking with-your-friends type of humor, this is a great show. I definitely recommend it.

DVD/TV Series Review: Shameless Season 10

 

The 12-episode 10th season of Shameless aired from November 2019 to the end of January 2020. Season 10 of the show has even more cast turnover, the largest of which, of course, is the loss of Emmy Rossum. This leads to everything from the opening credits being updated to a large hole in the family dynamic. Although Fiona is mentioned a couple of times, the family has, for the most part, moved on without her. One thing that does give the show is the potential for more developed and fleshed out storylines. Frank is still horrible but gets a bit of a comeuppance from someone with a grudge against him, Debbie continues to have relationship issues, Carl is trying to be a productive member of society, Liam is still the outsider of the family, and Lip is dealing with both a new baby and Tami's issues. Noel Fisher did rejoin the cast as a series regular, and one of the most prominent storylines of the season deals with Ian and Mickey's relationship, which, as has always been the case, is tumultuous.

The DVD set is a three-disc set. The A/V transfer and quality are horrible, which knocks it down a couple of stars for me. Of course, as most know, after 9 seasons of blu-ray releases, the show is only being released on a MOD DVD release which is, honestly, not much better than a bootleg release. It does have captions and deleted scenes for some episodes, but no other extras at all. And, I had an issue with the audio track going out of sync with the video. If I hit stop on the DVD player and immediately hit play again the issue always resolved, but it was still annoying. While physical media is going extinct (especially TV series releases, and even more especially TV series releases on blu-ray, Shameless is still a popular enough show that it should get a better release than this, and should still be available as a MOD blu-ray release. There is always an outside chance that the complete series may get a blu-ray release (ala Masters of Sex, which had two seasons released on blu-ray, did not have seasons 3 and 4 released on disc at all in the US, then got a blu-ray release for the complete series box set).

The show will be getting a final season starting in December of 2020. I definitely think that it is right to end the show at 11 seasons because it is definitely getting long in the tooth. Not necessarily horrible, but it is starting to get stale. I hope they can get at least some of the departed cast members to come back, even if just for a cameo, in the final season, but I am unsure if there are any plans for that. I have not watched the 11th season as of this writing, so I am unsure if any of the ex-cast members appear in the final season. I cannot say that everyone, even die-hard fans of the show (especially the early seasons) will like season 10. However, if you have not been a fan of the show up to this point, there is probably nothing about season 10 that will change your mind about the show.

DVD/TV Series Review: The League Season 1

 

The League was a comedy that aired on FX and is centered around a group of friends who play in a fantasy football league together. The six-episode first season aired in the fall and winter of 2009. The storylines are primarily about their weekly matchups, whatever background story happens to be going on in the particular episode (usually involving the personal lives of one or more of the characters), and their busting on each other. It starred Mark Duplass, Paul Scheer, Nick Kroll, Katie Aselton, Stephen Rannazzisi, and John Lajoie. It also had several recognizable guest stars and recurring characters, such as Nadine Velazquez, Janina Gavankar, Brie Larson, Leslie Bibb, Jeff Goldblum, Seth Rogan, Brooklyn Decker, and Jason Mantzoukas, and several appearances by current and former NFL stars. The show did not have as many notable guest stars in the first season as it would in later seasons.

For those who get the DVD set, it is a two-disc set with a pretty standard A/V transfer. Nothing special. The extras include deleted scenes, alternate jokes, a "Mr. Mcgibblets" funhouse and dojo, just John Lajoie in the mascot outfit in a classroom with weapons for 7 minutes, and a gag reel. A good amount of material. Also, if you use the play-all feature, you can watch the episodes as they aired, but if you go into each episode, you can also watch extended versions with unedited jokes.

It is definitely not a show that will appeal to everyone. There are a lot of sex and drug references, so it is definitely not a family-friendly sitcom. While I do not think you need to be a fantasy football fan or really even a football fan, to enjoy the show, it does help. However, being at least somewhat into football is helpful to get the references. Those provisos aside, if you are looking for a funny, adult sitcom and have not checked this out, it is definitely worth it.

DVD/TV Series Review: The Good Wife: The Final Season (Season 7)

 

The 22-episode seventh and final season of the long-running and popular CBS show, The Good Wife, aired during the 2015/2016 TV season. It is, as all the other seasons have been, mostly about the journey of Alicia Florrick. The series takes the show back to its beginnings with Peter ending up in hot water again, after making a failed run for President. Since the show is set in the real political world (at least in part) that is not giving anything away. The first part of the season is about the presidential run, and Alicia is trying to make it as a solo attorney (with Louis Canning still trying to woo her). It is part case-of-the-week, and part larger storyline (as it has been during its entire run). The latter half of the season sees Peter back in court, much like he was in season one, and Alicia trying to decide whether to stand by him (yet again). I will not say too much so as not to spoil anything for the handful of people who have not seen the season yet, but I do think it did a good job with that.

What the season did a terrible job of is setting up the spin-off show, The Good Fight. If you have at least seen the pilot of that show (which I did before ever watching The Good Wife), the only thing about the new show that gets established is the character of Lucca Quinn (played by Cush Jumbo) who was brought in to replace Kalinda as a best friend for Alicia. But nothing in the final season's storylines set up the story that began the new show. I am not sure whether The Good Fight was decided on after The Good Wife wrapped, but if the showrunners knew ahead of time that the spin-off was a go, they did a crappy job setting it up.

The show did not wrap everything up in a nice bow, either. You only get a vague idea of what might have been next for the various characters, but there was very little of, even for the main characters, "this is what was next" for them. So, the show leaves a lot to the imagination of the viewer. They did manage to bring Josh Charles back for the final episode in a unique way. The only series regulars that did not at least make an appearance were Archie Panjabi (who had gone on to her role in Blindspot and, given the reported bad blood between her and Margulies, likely had no interest in returning for the finale) and Matthew Goode. Another bright spot was the addition of Jeffrey Dean Morgan as the new investigator to replace that part of the Kalinda character and as a new love interest for Alicia, as the real replacement for Will. He seemed to have good chemistry with Juliana Margulies and played the role of the mysterious new character very well.

The DVD set is a six-disc set. For those who get the DVD set, it is much like the other seasons (sans the commentary tracks that appeared in the first couple of seasons). Most episodes have deleted and/or extended scenes, ranging from about 45 seconds for some to around 11 minutes for the longest group. The final disc has the rest of the bonus material, about 45 minutes of making-of and behind-the-scenes material, a short wrap-party red carpet event, and a series-spanning gag reel.

Overall, I would say the season was enjoyable but I would not have ended the show the way they did, at least not without adding about 10 more minutes to give the show, and the characters, more closure. Although, will say that I can see what they were going for with the way it did end. I cannot say that everyone will like how it ended, but as a whole, I think if you liked the prior seasons you will like most of this one.

Blu-Ray/TV Series Review: Shameless Season 9

 

The 14-episode 9th season of Shameless aired from the fall of 2018 to the spring of 2019 (split into two seven-episode parts). As anyone who is a fan of the series knows, the show has had a ton of cast turnover throughout its run, and this year is no exception. Notably, this is the last season with Emmy Rossum, who has been the co-lead of the show since season 1. Also, Cameron Monaghan had a very reduced role after the halfway point of the season as he was contemplating leaving the show as well.

I will not go into much of the season's storylines for those who have not seen it. Still, the basics are, that Frank totally drops the "Saint Francis" act from last season and is back to being horrible, Lip is struggling with trying to raise Xan and dealing with a new, not necessarily healthy, relationship, Carl and Debbie end up in a love triangle with his new girlfriend, Ian faces the consequences of blowing up the van last season, Debbie is starting to take charge of the family, and Liam (again) gets actual storylines, including a pretty hilarious one at the end of the season. Like the past few seasons, Kev and V are around, but their storylines mostly revolve around the bar and their family life. The show does make a lot of jokes revolving around the current political climate, with a pretty hilarious storyline with Frank as the campaign manager for "Mo White," a former congressman on probation (and not allowed near schools), allowing for Frank to say things like "We Need Mo White" and print t-shirts with basically racist slogans. There is also a great episode with Bob Saget, Courtney Cox, and Katey Segal (who has a recurring role in the middle of the season), all guest-starring.

The Blu-ray set is a four-disc MOD release. The only extras are deleted scenes for every episode, ranging from 25 seconds to a few minutes. So, unless you get it to add to an existing DVD/Blu-ray collection, you are not missing a ton of extras if you just stream it. There are no other making-of or behind-the-scenes material, which would have been nice given it was Emmy Rossum's final season. Overall, the series is definitely starting to drag a bit. It was renewed for a 10th season and an 11th final season, both of which have already aired. While I do not think it is as good as in the first few seasons, I think it is still entertaining and worth watching.

DVD/TV Series Review: The Good Wife: Season 6

 

+++Warning, this reveals the big season 5 spoiler but does not have any major season 6 giveaways+++

The 22-episode 6th season of The Good Wife aired during the 2014/2015 TV season. It is the penultimate season of the show. It split the season into two big story arcs. One involves Cary and Kalinda, and the other involves the state's attorney race, which goes on throughout most of the season. I will not spoil any plotlines, although chances are anyone reading this by now already knows how the season played out. There are a lot of great guest stars again, some of the usuals like Michael J. Fox and Mike Colter (who plays a larger role this season than he has in the past seasons) as well as new ones such as Ed Asner.

The season also had more cast turnover. Matthew Goode would come on as a series regular after being introduced midway through season five. At first, it seemed like he would be a replacement for Will in Alicia's life, but I think the choice the writers took with the character was better, although by the end of the season, his arc was pretty much played out. The more controversial departure was that of Archie Panjabi. As most know, there was some friction between her and Julianna Margulies, which resulted in her leaving voluntarily (which was the party line) or being forced out. In the bonus material, everyone was cordial about her leaving the show, and kind of hilariously made it seem like Kalinda and Alicia's final scene together was some great acting chemistry between Panjabi and Margulies, given that it is now pretty well known that they did not film it together. I think the circumstances of her leaving the show were unfortunate, but the writers gave the character a good sendoff. Christine Baranski also had a pretty good story arc with her character having to pick up the pieces of the law firm after Will's death.

The DVD is a six-disc set. The extras include deleted scenes for every episode, and on the final disc, about an hour's worth of making-of and behind-the-scenes material, a couple of promotional character shorts for Diane and Alicia that ran on CBS, and a gag reel—pretty similar to what was included in the prior seasons.

Overall, the season was good. I think they did a good job with the evolution of the characters and gave everyone in the ensemble cast something to do. They also did a good job keeping up with current legal cases with shows that dealt with issues like the Second Amendment, freedom of religion versus gay rights, etc. While the show had a liberal bent, I think they did a good job with the counter-point by adding conservative characters like Diane's husband, and a new client for the firm played by Oliver Platt. Chances are, if you liked the prior seasons, you will like this one. If you were not all that big on the show in the earlier seasons, then there is probably nothing about this one that is likely to change your mind.

Blu-Ray/TV Series Review: Shameless Season 8

 

The 12-episode 8th season of Shameless aired from November 2017 to January 2018. It tries to continue character development and take the characters in new directions. Some of it works (Lip has a great arc this season), and some do not (cult leader Ian, for example). Of course, that is all subjective, however. This season also sees Fiona as a landlord and getting into yet another complicated relationship, Frank trying to be an upstanding member of society (which, as you would expect, does not exactly last long), and Carl gets into a Fatal Attraction-like relationship. Liam actually has more than two lines, and Deb is balancing work and being a parent along with (kind of) being a girlfriend. Kev and V continue to have issues with Svetlana, which have mixed results for all but result in a pretty good (and funny) couple of story arcs.

Instead of a two-disc Blu-Ray release as seasons 1-7 received, this season gets a single-disc MOD release. While it is a MOD title, it does have some extras (mostly deleted scenes, but it does have a couple of featurettes) and captions. Plus, you get a true play-all mode that lets you pick up where you left off. Overall, the show is still good but getting a bit long in the tooth. For those who follow the series, you know that there is, and will be, more cast turnover (this season, no major characters are leaving the show as in past seasons). There is a lot of sex, swearing, and some drug use (although that is a bit more toned down than in the past), plus the unapologetic LGBTQ storylines. So, if any of that will turn you off to a show, this one is not for you. But it has a good blend of dark humor (sometimes very dark) and drama. While it is not as good (in my opinion) as in prior seasons, it is still worth watching and better than many shows out there, especially on network TV.

DVD/TV Series Review: The Good Wife Season 5

 

The 22-episode fifth season of The Good Wife aired during the 2013/2014 TV season. It continues to do an excellent job of reinventing itself, given the storyline that started the series has played out. The show has managed to move past Alicia's re-entry into the workplace and her dealing with the scandal that kicked off the series and made her, and made all of the other characters, evolve.

Chances are anyone reading this review by now generally knows what happened during the show. Still, for those who do not, I will not spoil it except to say that there are major developments throughout the season, starting with the cliffhanger from season 4 playing out with Alicia agreeing to start a new firm with Cary. The season begins exactly where season 4 ended, and does not do a time jump. As a result, the actual leaving of Lockhart-Gardner has to play out, and needless to say, it does not go over all that well. It leads up to a major event that occurs a little over halfway through the season and then plays out for the rest of the season. The season then ends with Alicia having to make another big life decision.

The DVD set is a six-disc set. The extras include deleted scenes for most episodes, a series of behind-the-scenes and making-of featurettes (that total just under an hour), including one on the pivotal 15th episode of the season, and a gag reel. The only drawback is that the deleted scenes are not included in the bonus materials menus as in they were in seasons 1-3 so you cannot play them all at one time. If you want to watch them, you have to click on the episode title from the main menu and play them on episode-by-episode. It is a minor point, but annoying given that it is a change from earlier season sets.

Overall, I think the show was still doing well through the 6th season. It was starting to get a bit long in the tooth, but not so much that it was getting stale. You can also tell that the characters of Alicia and Kalinda were being separated, which seems to be the start of the alleged friction between Julianna Margulies and Archie Panjabi. Matt Czuchry's character was more involved this year after being more on the back burner the prior couple of seasons. The show also had a decent spate of guest stars, including some of the usuals (like Michael J. Fox) and new ones (like Jason O'Mara). Toward the end of the season, Matthew Goode joined the cast as a new member of the state's attorney's office. If you liked the prior seasons, you will like this one.

Book Review: Star Wars: The High Republic: Beware the Nameless

 

Beware the Nameless is one of the Star Wars junior novels set during Phase 3 of the High Republic era. It was written by Zoraida Cordova and published in 2024. It is set after the events of the junior novel Escape from Valo. In it, a group of Jedi set out to capture one of the force-eating creatures that the Jedi refer to as The Nameless and that the Nihil call Levelers, that the Nihil has used to kill multiple Jedi. A group of younglings (who stow away aboard one of the ships embarking on the mission) end up teaming with a young Hutt named Churo, who has been sent by his sister to recover a Leveler egg to bring back to his clan. 

The hardcover version of the book is moderately long, just under 325 pages. Unlike some junior novels, which tell ancillary one-off stories, this one advances the overall plot of the High-Republic era quite a bit. In this book, we learn more about the Levelers, including how they can affect non-force users. The characters in the book are mostly new, although Ram Jomaram (who has been in a few of the junior novels) does appear, and Yoda appears at the very end of the book. Because it is a junior novel, it reads very quickly. It includes a handful of comic illustrations, giving us an actual look at the Levelers, which have been described in very vague terms in the prior novels (and we learn why that is in this book). Even though it is written for a younger audience and some of the dialogue can be a bit silly, it is good enough for adults to enjoy. If you are a fan of the High Republic stories but do not get all the books, this one is worth reading. 

Blu-Ray/Documentary Review: Aliens Expanded

 

Aliens Expanded is a massively long documentary (just under five hours if you watch the entire credits sequence) created by a group of documentary filmmakers who were fans of the 1986 movie Aliens. Of course, Aliens was the sequel to Ridley Scott's original movie. It was the second entry in what has become a franchise of films and the only one written and directed by James Cameron. This disc does not include the movie itself. Still, it does feature interviews with most of the surviving cast and crew members, including James Cameron, producer Gale Anne Hurd, Sigourney Weaver, Michael Biehn, Lance Henrickson, Jenette Goldstein, Carrie Henn, Paul Reiser, Colette Hiler, Mark Rolston, Willam Hope, Cynthia Dale Scott, Daniel Kash, and Ricco Ross. 

The film talks about pretty much every aspect of making the movie, from the initial approach by the studio to Cameron to write the screenplay, the casting process, including getting Weaver to reprise her role as Ripley, to the almost mythic battle that Cameron had working with the crew at Pinewood Studios in England, who were pissed off that a "yank" with no experience (Terminator had barely come out when Aliens was being made) was replacing Ridley Scott, to the grueling process of actually shooting the film. There is a discussion of the infamous "Tea Lady" incident in which Cameron (who is notorious for being difficult to work with anyway) kicked the tea cart that was brought for the crew every day, shutting down production while the crew drank tea and ate scones, and yelled at the tea lady to get the fuck out and ripped into the crew for being lazy. 

If you have watched the behind-the-scenes material and have listened to the commentary tracks on the physical media releases of Aliens, then you will have heard some of the stories that are discussed in the documentary, but this goes into much great depth and includes discussions of things that are not included on the official commentary tracks, such as why Michael Biehn replaced James Remar as Corporal Hicks. 

The documentary can be ordered on the website aliens-expanded.com. You can order a digital edition or a region-free Blu-Ray. The digital edition of the film itself is about $18, and the Blu-Ray is about $112-$119 (including the shipping cost), depending on whether you get the T-shirt. If you order the Blu-Ray, you get swag to go with it, including a patch, a poster, a certificate of contribution, and a T-shirt. If you ordered before the release date, you had the option of the T-shirt or having your name appear in the credit sequence.  There are some extras, including deleted scenes that are snippets of interviews that did not make it into the main film, including an interesting discussion of the rumored direct sequel that would have ignored Alien 3 and Alien Resurrection and would have brought back the characters of Ripley, Newt, and Hicks. There is also a Zoom meeting discussion between the filmmakers where they discuss the process of making the documentary, including the hoops they had to jump through to get in touch with Sigourney Weaver and get her to agree to sit down for an interview, which happened at the very last minute and ended up pushing the release date back. Thankfully, you can resume watching from where you left off if you do stop watching before the end of the film.

Ultimately, this is a very good documentary for die-hard fans of the film. It is not something that a casual fan will likely want to sit through, given that it is about 4 hours and 15 minutes long if you don't watch the credits and 4 hours and 42 minutes if you do. While it is not a scene-by-scene discussion of the movie, it does include a lot of clips from the movie and a lot of behind-the-scenes material from when the movie was made. Again, if you have watched the bonus content from the physical media releases, some of it is repetitive. It does not, however, feature any of the archived interviews that Bill Paxton did for the movie before he died. It does have a few f-bombs in it, so that is something to be aware of, but the movie had a lot of swearing in it, so that should not be too shocking. So, if you love the movie and don't mind watching a very long documentary about it, this is worth watching.    

Blu-Ray/TV Series Review: Shameless Season 7

 

The 12-episode 7th season of Shameless aired during the fall and winter of 2018. It again sees more character development, along with more cast turnover. I will not go into the various storylines too much so I do not spoil too much for those who have not seen the season yet. However, all the characters (even Liam) get storylines this season. Ian, Carl, and Fiona are making their way out of their respective rock bottoms, while Lip and, to some extent, Debbie continue to spiral. Lip, because of the fallout with his professor, and Debbie being a teen mother and dealing with in-laws. Frank comes up with another scam after being fished out of the river, trying to come up with a replacement family. There is also a storyline involving Frank's ex-wife and the mother of the kids, Monica (played by Chloe Webb).

For those who get the Blu-ray set, it is much like the prior seasons. It consists of two discs, with deleted scenes making up the bulk of the extras. There are also two behind-the-scenes features: one on how Emma and Ethan have grown up on the show and one on Frank's politics (basically how the writers and William H. Macy see Frank's belief system).

Overall, the show continues to be well-written and acted. If you have liked the prior seasons, then you will probably like this one. Macy does a great job of playing Frank as an awful guy with almost no redeeming qualities, and Rossum is wonderful in portraying Fiona's character development. If you have not liked the prior seasons, then this is probably not going to convert you. There is still a lot of swearing, drug and alcohol use, and sex. That has not really changed at all. So, if that would turn you off to a show, then this one is definitely not for you.

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

 

The 22-episode fourth season of The Good Wife aired during the 2012/2013 TV season. It is really a transition for the show. The original premise of the show (Alicia recovering from Peter's affair) had pretty much played out, so this season was really about what comes next for all the characters. Peter is in the midst of his run for Governor, so many of the state's attorney storylines took a back seat this season. As far as the law firm storylines go, the season picks up at the tail end of Will's suspension and with the firm on the brink of Bankruptcy. Much of the first third to half of the season revolved around the partners trying to save the firm, working with a Bankruptcy trustee played by Nathan Lane. We also get the payoff of Kalinda's husband showing up paying off on the cliffhanger at the end of season 3. Alicia is progressing in the firm while also trying to deal with her feelings for Will, even after breaking things off with him. Cary is also brought back into the fold after leaving the state's attorney's office.

The season again ends with things up in the air. It's not really a cliffhanger as it occurred in the prior seasons. The show gives away where things are going for the characters in season 5 but leaves you to wonder how exactly things will play out. A lot of the "regular" guest stars make at least one appearance this season, with Michael J. Fox appearing for a few episodes and causing problems for the firm as usual. Jason Biggs reprises his role in a great episode involving a rape victim suing her alleged attacker in civil court. There is also a great episode where Cary and Alicia go up against Will and Diane in a mock trial.

The DVD set is a six-disc set. There are quite a few extras for those who get the DVD set. Deleted scenes for most episodes are spread across all the discs. On the last disc, there is approximately 50 minutes worth of behind-the-scenes and making-of material. This is a good amount, but maybe not quite as extensive as there have been in past years.

If you have liked the show's prior seasons, you will probably like this one. If you do not like the earlier seasons, this one will probably not change your mind. Given that the show has been off the air for a few years as of this writing, chances are anyone coming across this review will have a pretty good idea of what the show was and how it progressed. I don't think it is a show you can just jump into midstream. While the show is mostly a procedural drama with weekly storylines, it has enough serial arcs that you need to watch from the beginning to follow everything that goes on. It is definitely worth checking out.

DVD/Movie Review: The Betrayed

 

The Betrayed is a 2008 thriller directed by Amanda Gusack starring Melissa George (probably best known for her role in the series Alias), Oded Fehr (probably best known for his role in the first two Mummy movies and several of the Resident Evil movies), Connor Christopher, Christian Campbell, Alice Krige, and Donald Adams. The movie begins at the scene of what appears to be a hit-and-run car accident, but the driver of the car that was hit is nowhere to be found. Then, we see a woman named Jamie (George) who has been kidnapped and is being held in a warehouse by a masked stranger (Fehr) who is asking for information about her husband (Campbell). Jamie finds out that she and her son, Michael,  are being held by members of a crime syndicate who claim that her husband, who Jamie believes is the owner of an Italian restaurant, has stolen forty million dollars from them. She is told that she and her son will be released if she helps track down the money. 

The DVD is a very bare-bones release. There is no bonus content specific to the movie. The only extras are a series of trailers that play before the disc menu loads. While the movie is not quite an independent film, it definitely had a lower budget and is not an action-packed blockbuster with an A-list cast. That said, it is a well-written and acted thriller. George and Fehr, who have mostly had supporting roles in their careers, are excellent as the leads. While the movie has a little bit of action, mostly at the end, it is mainly a suspense thriller set in a single location for the vast majority of the time. The run time comes in at just under 90 minutes. The story is compact and does not ever seem to lag. Ultimately, it is a decent to good B-level drama/suspense thriller that is worth watching.

Book Review: The Conspiracy to End America: Five Ways My Old Party Is Driving Our Democracy to Autocracy

 

The Conspiracy to End America is a 2023 book by former Republican strategist Stuart Stevens. It is partly a follow-up to his 2020 book, It Was All a Lie, but this one is more forward-looking. In it, Stevens details how his former party has consolidated power over the years, including how the multi-millionaires and billionaires have used dark money to get nutjobs like Empty-G elected and stack the courts with radicalized nutjobs like Clearance Thomas and the Witch Doctor, Sammy Alito, and baited the low-income racists to bolster their voting base. Then Stevens warns what electing the Orange Genital Wart to a second term would entail, especially if Republicans get total control of the government again.

The hardcover version of the book is short-- just 225 pages--and is a very quick read. Stevens is the "never trumper" that I have the most respect for because he admits that much of the Republican platform and talking points going back years has been total bullshit, and actually does a sincere mea-culpa for what he helped unleash because he was only concerned with winning elections and not the fallout. He admits that the current Republican party is full of nutjobs (who have taken over the party) and weenies who are too scared to stand up to the nutjobs because they care more about losing their jobs than defending our democracy. It is a succinct civics and history lesson that provides much information that people may not know (especially those who do not follow politics consistently). It is an insightful and chilling read, but it is absolutely a book everyone should read.

4K-UHD/Movie Box Set Review: Back to the Future: The Ultimate Trilogy

 

Back to the Future: The Ultimate Trilogy is a box set containing the three Back to the Future movies: the iconic 1985 original film starring Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thomson, Crispin Glover, and Tomas F. Wilson in the main roles and Claudia Wells, James Tolkan, Wendie Jo Sperber, Billy Zane, and Marc McClure in the primary supporting roles; 1989's follow-up Back to the Future Part II, which brought back Fox, Lloyd, Wilson, and Thomson to reprise their roles with Elisabeth Shue replacing Claudia Wells as and Jeffrey Weissman replacing Crispin Glover (and includes Elija Wood's first acting credit in a very small role); and 1990's Back to the Future Part III, which added Mary Steenburgen to the cast. All three movies were written by the duo of Robert Zemeckis (who also directed all three films) and Bob Gale (who was an executive producer on all three movies).

Chances are, most people know the plots of the movies, but for anyone who does not, in the original film, a local scientist in the fictional town of Hill Valley, California, named Emmit "Doc" Brown (Lloyd) invents a time machine in 1985 that he built into a Delorian. A local teen named Marty McFly (Fox), who has befriended Doc Brown, helps him film the first time travel experiment, which is interrupted by Libyan terrorists from whom Doc stole Plutonium to power the time machine, and during which Marty is transported back to 1955. In 1955, Marty accidentally interrupts his parents' (Glover and Thomson's) first meeting, causing his mother to fall in love with him, which starts erasing his existence. Marty must help his parents get together, deal with the town bully, Biff Tannen (Wilson), and get the younger version of Doc Brown to help him get back to 1985. In the 1989 sequel, Marty, Doc, and Marty's girlfriend, Jennifer (played by Shue), first travel to 2015 to prevent Marty's son (also played by Fox) from doing something criminal with Biff's grandson, Griff (also played by Wilson). Biff steals the time machine in the future and travels to the past to give himself a sports almanac so that his younger version can use it to bet on every major sporting event, making him a millionaire in a new version of the future. Marty and Doc then have to go back to 1955, into the events of the first movie, to get the book back from young Biff and restore the timeline; in the 1990 conclusion to the trilogy, Marty has to travel back to 1855 to rescue Doc from the old west.

The 4K set is a six-disc set containing three UHD discs (one for each movie) and three regular Blu-Ray discs (also one for each movie). The 4K discs and the regular Blu-Rays have the same content, the movie and the bonus material. There are hours of bonus content for each movie. The bonus material includes archived behind-the-scenes material shot while the movies were being filmed, material created for the original DVD release, and material filmed in 2010 for the original Blu-Ray release. No new bonus content has been created for the 4K release. The extras include deleted scenes, a three-part documentary called Tales from the Future, which features interviews with the cast and crew, promotional material, the trailers, and more. Each movie also has two commentary tracks, one featuring a Q&A session with Zemeckis and Gale at USC, which plays for a portion of each movie. The longest is in the first movie, and the shortest is in Part III. Then, each movie has a feature-length commentary track with Bob Gale and another producer, Neil Canton. What knocks the set down a star for me is the packaging. It comes in a nice-looking digibook case, but the discs are all in tight slip notches, which makes them hard to get out and susceptible to scratching. 

The three movies are well-written and very well-acted. Even though the first movie is nearing 40 years old, it (and the sequels) hold up reasonably well. The bonus features offer a lot of insight into the filming process, including how Michael J. Fox came on board (he was initially not going to be allowed to film the movie by the showrunners of Family Ties, which was the wildly popular 1980s sitcom he starred in), the firing of Eric Stolz who was originally hired to play Marty when Fox was allowed to film the movie, and the producers side of why Crispin Glover did not return for the sequels (they claimed he was making unreasonable demands because he did not like how the first movie ended). There is no discussion of Glover's lawsuit because of the use of archival footage featuring him in Part II. There is also an interesting insight into how they envisioned what things would be like in 2015. Gale said they were trying to think of the most unrealistic things they could (hence flying cars and hoverboards), which makes things they got right (e.g., biometric identification and locks, video conferencing/calling, etc.) even more impressive. It is interesting that they thought fax machines would be prevalent and that every home would have multiple fax machines.

While it is easy to think that the movies are totally derivative of each other (and they do recycle some jokes in all three movies), they are really very different. In the first, Marty's parents are arguably as important to the story as Marty is, and the story is about George McFly's transformation from a lovable loser to a confident success. In the second movie, Biff is the more important character, and we see the first movie's events from a different perspective. The third movie is about Doc Brown's character, with Marty almost as a supporting character in Doc's story. The movies are mostly family-friendly, although there is quite a bit of swearing (the worst of which is the word "shit") in each film, a couple of cleavage shots of Lea Thompson in Parts I and II, and a butt shot of Michael J. Fox in Part III. While the movies are a bit dated, and some things would probably be changed if they were made today, they generally hold up well and are definitely worth watching, especially for 1980s kids who grew up with the movies. 

Blu-Ray/TV Series Review: Shameless Season 6

 

The 12-episode sixth season of Shameless aired during the winter and spring of 2016. It saw much of the same and, in some ways, different dysfunction from the Gallagher clan. The season sees more adult storylines for Deb and Carl, with both hitting bottom in their own ways. Carl, after coming out of juvie, is steeped in the gang culture, and Deb, on the heels of her positive pregnancy test after lying to her boyfriend about being on the pill. Lip's life at college goes haywire as his affair with his professor is ongoing, and he is trying to balance that with his time as a TA in physics working for a professor who has a drinking problem that rivals that of Frank. Frank continues to be generally horrible throughout the season, which leads to a reckoning with the family by the end of the season. We also meet another of Frank's old flames, Sammi's mother, played by Twin Peaks alum Sherrilyn Fenn. Fiona and Ian see more stability in their lives, with Fiona working at the diner and dating Sean and Ian working toward becoming a firefighter. Thankfully, the show has given storylines for Kevin and V separate from just being the Gallagher's neighbors, and they continue to have probably the best and most complicated relationship on the show.

Overall, the show continues to be well-written and acted. As always, there are many adult themes, including sex, drug use, and violence. All of the actors, including the younger ones, do a great job with their characters, and the show continues to develop the characters well as it progresses. The show also does a great job of mixing drama and dark comedy, and there are many points where you bust out laughing but feel kind of bad about doing so.

The Blu-Ray set is a two-disc set. The episodes and bonus material are spread across the two discs. The extras include deleted scenes (about 35 minutes worth), a featurette that follows Shinola Hampton around for a day, and a round of pool with William H. Macy, Emmy Rossum, and two of the show's writers as they discuss the characters and the show in general. A decent amount, but not as much as in the releases for the first couple of seasons. By now, anyone reading this review will know what the show is and is not. There is more cast turnover this year, with Noel Fisher being essentially written out of the show after Mickey was arrested at the end of the prior season. But, unless you were only watching the show for one of the characters that left the show, if you liked the prior seasons, you will probably like this one. Conversely, if you have not enjoyed the prior seasons, there is probably nothing about this one that will convert you.

DVD/TV Series Review: The Good Wife: Season 3

 

The 22-episode third season of The Good Wife aired during the 2011/2012 TV season. To me, the third season was all about character development, now that the main themes from seasons 1 and 2, namely Peter's release from jail and re-election to the state's attorney's office, are resolved. The show continues to balance case-of-the-week episodes with larger story arcs. The latter is mainly comprised of the fallout and consequences of Will and Alicia hooking up at the end of season two, the continued investigations of the firm, and individuals in it, by the state's attorney's office.

Most of the characters from prior seasons return, although both Michael Ealy and Scott Porter (who played Derek Bond, and Blake Calamar, respectively) both left when their character arcs ended. I think Blake could have remained as a foil for Kalinda, but Porter would get a lead role in the show Hart of Dixie, which nixed any chance of that. We do learn a bit more about Kalinda's past that Blake hinted at during season two, which leads up to a mini cliffhanger at the end of season three. Alan Cumming is promoted to a series regular in season three and joins the law firm as a consultant and equity partner while he waits for Peter to decide on a run for Governor. He makes for some great comedy during the season, including interacting with his ex-wife, played by Parker Posey.

The show continues to balance the large ensemble cast, which includes a lot of great recurring characters (including a few more great appearances by Michael J. Fox). That said, Alicia continues to be the clear lead character, and her development is clearly the focus of the show. Her arcs mainly involve taking on more responsibility at the firm, making sense of her feelings for Will and the consequences of a relationship with him, becoming more independent from Peter, and deciding whether to repair her relationship with Kalinda. I do think the character of Cary got the short end of the stick story-wise early in the season, but his arc definitely got better in the latter part of the season.

The DVD set is a six-disc set. For those who get the DVD set, the extras include deleted scenes for most of the episodes spread throughout all the discs and a few behind-the-scenes and making-of featurettes, the longest of which are on the last disc. All in all, probably over an hour of bonus material.

The show continues to be well-written and acted. I would say if you liked the first two seasons then you will probably like this one. There are no major changes to the show's overall formula. Conversely, if you were not a fan of, or lukewarm to the first couple of seasons, this one probably will not change your mind. I definitely think it is worth checking out (for the handful of people who have not seen the show by this point).