Friday, May 24 2013
‘American Masters: Mel Brooks: Make a Noise’ Is a Fitting, Funny Salute to the Masterful Comic
This is a fitting tribute to our greatest living comic mind. Prepare to laugh.
Thursday, May 23 2013
Quirky and Endlessly Romantic: ‘A Fine Romance: The Complete Collection’
Judi Dench and her late husband Michael Williams shine as the ultimate oddball romantic couple.
‘Nova: Earth From Space’ Brings Visual Flair to Cutting-Edge Science
With locations taken from all seven continents and most of the seas, this truly world-spanning and mind-expanding documentary is well worth watching.
Wednesday, May 22 2013
An Engaging Crime Thriller Set in Postwar Britain: ‘The Bletchley Circle’
With excellent performances from the entire cast, particularly Anna Maxwell Martin as pattern-seeker Susan, The Bletchley Circle is simultaneously a riveting whodunit and an enlightening window into a period of recent history.
Tuesday, May 21 2013
‘True Blood: Season Five’ Runs a Little Dry
There are moments when we imagine that a character might actually meet the true death, leaving Sookie without a vampire lover to come to her rescue, for once.
Monday, May 20 2013
‘Doc Martin Special Collection: Series 1-5 + The Movies’
Doc Martin's social ineptitude and crankiness could tire easily, but Portwenn and its residents offer a balance that works well.
Wednesday, May 15 2013
The ‘Lord Peter Wimsey Mysteries: Complete Collection’ Offers Pleasant Escapism
Wimsey’s world, of posh city clubs and grand country houses, is a pleasant place to escape to for a few hours, without any need to worry too much about whether it bears more than a passing resemblance to any historical reality.
Old Crimes. Old Cops. New Tricks. ‘The Best of New Tricks’
If there's a subtext to New Tricks, it's that modern policing is too cautious, too sterile to handle the rough and tumble of proper police work. To really nail the bad guys, coppers need to be free to be themselves, unencumbered by the constraints of political correctness.
Tuesday, May 14 2013
‘World War II from Space’ Gives Us Breadth, but Not Depth
This History Channel documentary's reliance on CGI and bird's-eye-view visual effects end up making the whole conflict feel less like a battle for civilization and more like a video game
Friday, May 10 2013
Resistance Is Futile: ‘Star Trek: Next Generation S3’ & ‘The Best of Both Worlds’
The season when a show in its death-spiral got its nose up and created a universe and its mythos.
Tuesday, May 7 2013
‘The Great Commanders’ Struggles With its Limitations
This six-part documentary provides evidence for the "great man" theory.
Friday, May 3 2013
A Brutal Yet Beautiful Reality: ‘The Blue Planet: Seas of Life’
It's not all pretty pictures, here. Nature, as pointed out by Lord Tennyson, is red in tooth and claw, and he might have added flipper and fin, as well.
Thursday, May 2 2013
‘Partrimilgrimage: The Alan Partridge Specials’ Is Just About Worth the Journey
Steve Coogan's spoof radio DJ's latest outing -- released ahead of a feature film this summer -- is as clever as always. But isn't the joke getting a little old, now?
Tuesday, April 23 2013
One Need Not Believe in Ghosts to Enjoy ‘A Haunting: Season 5’
A Haunting is both entertaining and thought-provoking, calling for open-mindedness in light of ordinary people's stories of extraordinary experiences.
Tuesday, April 16 2013
A Love Triangle Unraveling Against the Backdrop of Societal Upheaval: ‘Parade’s End’
Parade’s End (1964) juxtaposes conservative aristocrat Christopher Tietjens’ domestic warfare with the sociopolitical turmoil of the First World War. It also introduces us to young Judi Dench as a beguiling Valentine in the story’s love triangle.
Thursday, April 11 2013
The Subplot Is Often More Interesting Than the Main Storyline in ‘A Mind to Kill’
Chief Inspector Noel Bain (Philip Madoc) is pretty much the embodiment of everything you want in a real-life police detective: unflappable, analytical, dedicated to the cause.
Wednesday, April 10 2013
A 3-Dimensional World, Flattened: ‘Alice Through the Looking Glass’ & ‘Alice in Wonderland’
With the low-budget production values and bad special effects, Alice Through the Looking Glass and Alice in Wonderland combine the worst of public-access television with the worst of community theater.
Tuesday, April 9 2013
A Hardboiled Look at Chicago Politics: ‘Boss: Season 2’
The second season of Boss delves further into the twisted power relations among a cast of larger-than-life characters.
Thursday, April 4 2013
From the Mouths of the Masters: ‘Shakespeare Uncovered’
Take a tour of Shakespeare's plays with Derek Jacobi, Jeremy Irons, Helen Mirren and others as your guide.
Wednesday, April 3 2013
He’s as Much a Cop as a Medical Examiner, ‘Quincy, M.E.: Season 5’
Quincy, M.E. was really the first of its kind and viewing it today, when forensic dramas remain popular and plentiful, is a reminder of why it was popular in its initial run and why it remains worth watching.
