Reviewed at the 2012 Tallgrass Film Festival

"My name is Wayne White, and I make pictures." So announces the subject of Neil Berekely's documentary Beauty is Embarrassing , but he's selling himself short; he is also a puppeteer, sculptor, cartoonist, art designer, and a pretty mean banjo player. To the oft-given advice to focus on one thing and do it well, he offers a stern "Fuck that!" And as someone who found success in Hollywood, dropped out, and became an artist, he says, "Fuck you, F. Scott Fitzgerald!"

There are "fuck"s a-plenty in White's vernacular; he cheerfully deploys the word not just in conversation but in many of his "word paintings," which have become his trademark works. In them, he tak...Read the entire review

The Show:

Friends of mine have been talking about Downton Abbey for a little while now, and when the opportunity to check out the show came up, I felt like giving into the urge. Normally I am not one for period pieces (and the show's touting of a Guinness World Record for 'highest critical review rating for a TV show' left me feeling a little dubious) but hey, if you are going to have horizons, why not try to broaden them occasionally, right?

The show is the brainchild of Julian Fellowes, and the show seems to have some general similarities to his Gosford Park story from several years back. The title of the show is derived from the fictitious British estate, in a drama that starts upon the recent news of the Titanic's sinking and concludes (at the end of its second season) at Christmas 1...Read the entire review

The Movie:
The British have something of a tradition of producing fine detective drama, often for television. The long running ITV show Inspector Morse is one such example that has spawned a couple of spinoffs, including the film being discussed here: Endeavor.

Intended as a standalone film, and as a sort of pilot for a new Morse related series, Endeavor serves as a prequel to its parent show. Set in the sixties, it follows Endeavor Morse as a young detective working on his first big case. It seems that young Mary Tremlett has gone missing from an exclusive school in Oxford (what would be equivalent to a private girls high school in the US), and a number of police personnel have been called in to assist with the investigation, including Morse (Shaun Evans) and his friend McLeash (Jack Ashton).

Being quite junior, Morse and McLeash are assigned to relatively minor ...Read the entire review

Lewis returns to Blu-ray with four more movie-length episodes. An ITV co-production with PBS's Masterpiece Mystery, it airs on the public television network in a slightly different form. Retitled Inspector Lewis apparently these shows are cut by several minutes, ironically to make room for intrusive host Alan Cumming.

Fortunately, following complaints from viewers, PBS wisely began releasing the "original UK editions" (as the packaging notes) of Lewis beginning with series three. These bear the original Lewis title and each episode runs 92 minutes. They've also gotten rid of the public broadcasting corporate sponsor ads preceding and following the shows (as broadcast on PBS), which for a time they had extended to their DVDs and Bu-rays.

The four mysteries here rise on fall on their scripts. I thought the second and fourth ones were way above average, the first e...Read the entire review

When asked recently by a friend for some British television recommendations, on the list I provided was Inspector Morse (1987-2000), the series adapted from Colin Dexter's novels and which starred the irreplaceable John Thaw in the title role. "Oh, I really don't care for British mystery shows," was his response. This prompted a long reply in which I tried to explain that the Morse films really weren't whodunits in the conventional sense. The mysteries were almost irrelevant except insofar as their investigations impacted Chief Inspector Morse himself, personally. The show was about him, his character, his relationships with women (often suspects), his superiors, and especially his junior partner, Detective Sergeant Lewis (Kevin Whately).

Though Dexter's novels were popular, it was the TV adaptations of his stories, and particularly John Thaw's portrayal of Morse, both of which ...Read the entire review

Sumptuous and moving, writer Abi Morgan (Shame, The Iron Lady) and director Philip Martin (TV's Prime Suspect: The Final Act and Wallander) have crafted a meticulous, deliberately paced film of Sebastian Faulks' best-selling novel. Forget about the fact that it was produced as a two-part television drama broadcast on the BBC in the UK and on PBS here in the States; Birdsong displays exquisite filmcraft. However, it's also driven largely by recycled clich s stolen from All Quiet on the Western Front, The End of the A...Read the entire review

THE FILM:

It seems likely that interest in the Amish -- those East-of-the-Midwest Pennsylviania-Dutch descendants we all have a vague and often probably not very accurate idea of -- was sufficiently renewed to warrant a two-hour PBS special by the horrendous events of October 2, 2006, when a gunman killed five young Amish girls in a Southeast Pennsylvania schoolhouse and added insult to injury by bringing in a wave of the kind of media attention that these rural, quiet, pious, very purposefully insular people would loathe more than anyone. But much like the community itself (which, rigorously true to their beliefs, rejected all vindictiveness, forgave, bore up, and moved on in the face of this tragedy), David Belton, the writer/director of The Amish,...Read the entire review

As documentaries of entertainment personalities go, Johnny Carson - King of Late Night (2012) is just about perfect. In a little under two hours, it traces the talk show icon's personal life and professional career frankly, informatively, and entertainingly. Although it does include some of The Tonight Show's most famous moments - Ed Ames's infamous tomahawk throw (and Carson's ad-libbed response) for instance, and the on-air wedding of Tiny Tim and Miss Vicki - mostly it tries and largely succeeds, insofar as such a thing is possible, to get inside the head of the enigmatic, circumspect entertainer, a man whose emotionally distant, isolated life off-camera so contrasted the intimate, personal relationship his viewers, total strangers, felt toward him. As writer Al Jean puts it, Johnny Carson was television's Charles Foster Kane. But what was his Rosebud?

PBS's Blu-ray is unusually goo...Read the entire review

Someof you are probably hugely familiar with the television program knownas Nature that airs on PBS. Then again,maybe some readers are going to be more like me and have only watched theprogram a few times over the years. It's a brilliant concept for ashow. Everyweek that the series is airing a new episode, there is a differenttheme and highlightabout various global issues that is broadcast...Read the entire review

When asked recently by a friend for some British television recommendations, on the list I provided was Inspector Morse (1987-2000), the series adapted from Colin Dexter's novels and which starred the irreplaceable John Thaw in the title role. "Oh, I really don't care for British mystery shows," was his response. This prompted a long reply in which I tried to explain that the Morse films really weren't whodunits in the conventional sense. The mysteries were almost irrelevant except insofar as their investigation impacted Chief Inspector Morse himself, personally. The show was about him, his character, his relationships with women (often suspects), his superiors, and especially his junior partner, Detective Sergeant Lewis (Kevin Whately).

Though Dexter's novels were popular, it was the TV adaptations of his stories, and particularly John Thaw's portrayal of Morse, both of which d...Read the entire review

In 10 Words or Less
Vocabulary building meets superhero fun

Reviewer's Bias*
Loves: Animation, entertaining edu-tainment, Patton Oswalt
Likes: Wordgirl's animation style
Dislikes: Overt lessons in my entertainment, short DVDs
Hates: Extra-less DVDs

The Show
I will not lie: I enjoy watching television with my daughter. We watch a bunch of different series together, everything from Big Time Rush to Pee-Wee's Playhouse, Sesame Street to The Aquabats! Super Show!. I love that she's embraced the series I watched as a child, and that she's embraced modern shows I can watch with her without being brutally bored by them. But unfortunately, too frequently, the shows on PBS, a chan...Read the entire review

THE SHOW:

Where was God on September 11th? It's the kind of question that is seldom asked, even in academic or religious circles, to say nothing of prime-time television--which is why the two-hour Frontline special Faith & Doubt at Ground Zero is so extraordinary. That Tuesday morning has become such an emotionally wrecking moment in our collective subconscious, and such a key turning point in our geopolitical thinking, that it is easy to overlook its ramifications in our personal faith (or lack thereof).

The program is divided into several acts, each of them centered on an event or a particular idea. The first, predictably (and wisely) walks through the morning of the 11th, as told by survivors and family, and it is utterly wrenching (as these things so often are). When the first tower fell, says one widow, "I knew he was dead." Another remembers her first thought...Read the entire review

Peep and the Big Wide World: Star Light, Star Bright:
Peep and the Big Wide World is the newest bit of wry fun from the creative folks at PBS. Surprisingly simple, the show defies this and any other possible negatives by functioning with near perfection. My kindergarten-aged child, a veteran PBS show scholar, might be a little more aged than the target audience, but she loves it. I do too. The thrill may wear off pretty quickly for adults, but I reckon kids will get their money's worth.

Peep, the nominal star of the show, is a newly hatched fuzzy chick, learning about the world from his friends Chirp and Quack (a robin and a duck). Chirp and Quack content themselves easily on lazy days, but something quirky always seems to happen; a chance encounter with another animal, or a problem usually created by Quack. Chirp (who looks a bit like an Angry Bird with legs) and Quack have kooky, o...Read the entire review

Peep and the Big Wide World: Seasons of Adventure:
Peep and the Big Wide World is the latest drollery from the magicians at PBS. Almost painfully simple, the show defies this and any other potential shortcomings by being just about as perfect as it can be. My 6-year-old, who has been corn fed on PBS shows, might be a little older than the target audience, yet she loves it. So do I. While I'm sure the thrill will wear off pretty quickly for me, I bet the kid will get her money's worth.

Peep, the nominal hero of the show, is a newly hatched fuzzy chick, learning about the world from his friends Chirp and Quack (a robin and a duck). Chirp and Quack seem content sitting around enjoying a lazy day, but something always seems to happen; a chance encounter with another friend, or a dilemma brought about by Quack. Chirp (who looks a bit like an Angry Bird with legs) and Quack possess wacky, ...Read the entire review

THE PROGRAM:

"Once she sees you'll do anything she says, she's bound to respect you!" - the overheard thoughts of Milhouse vis- -vis Lisa Simpson on The Simpsons

Watching "Lost in Detention: President Obama's Tough Immigration Enforcement," the October 11, 2011, episode of PBS's news series Frontline, I kept flashing on that hilariously wrongheaded logic expressed by an eternal-loser Simpsons character, because the disheartening story the program tells is just one more painful but necessary reminder that that's pretty much the same logic our president uses when it comes to dealing with the House and Senate Republicans he's spen...Read the entire review

Ken Burns and Lynn Novick's seven-part, 14-hour The War (2007) attempts to document the American perspective of World War II in the same signature style Burns (and sometimes Novick) has brought to other subjects, like Jazz (2001), Baseball (1994/2010) and, most famously, The Civil War (1990).

In attempting to distinguish itself from other made-for-television documentaries about World War II, most famously The World at War (1973), still by far the best on this subject for its peerless meshing of vital information, invaluable interviews, and unanticipated poetry, Burns and Novick have adopted a different approach. Here, the war is experienced through the residents of four "quintessentially American" towns: Luverne, Minnesota; Mobile, Alabama; Sacramento, California; and Waterbury, Connecticut.

It's a promising idea that unfortunately doesn't work too well in the e...Read the entire review

THE PROGRAM:

Please Note: The images used here are taken from promotional materials provided by PBS, not the Blu-ray edition under review.

The word "infrastructure" most often hits our ears when tossed off by one politician or another, but to what extent do we grasp what our cities', states', or nation's infrastructure actually is -- what it looks like, how it came to be, how it works, and what part it plays in most details of our daily lives? I personally have long been intrigued by the concept: infrastructure is something omnipresent yet virtually invisible (we rarely have to think about it), and there's something extremely interesting about the origins, whys, and wherefores of the roads, rails, or airways we travel ever...Read the entire review

The Movie:
Countless films, both documentary and narrative, have been made about World War II, and specifically the Holocaust. And certainly, Elusive Justice is not the first film to examine the hunt for Nazi war criminals, but the PBS produced documentary is a compelling look at this particular historical topic, and benefits greatly from its one on one interviews with many of those directly involved, both victims and perpetrators.

The film is just under two hours long, and consists mostly of individual interviews, archival photos and footage, and explanatory and introductory narration, provided ably by Candice Bergen. A large range of individuals are interviewed, including people such as concentration camp survivor Yehuda Maimon, Benjamin Ferencz, a military investigator who personally inspected camps looking for documentation of crimes, Uki Goni, an Argentine journalist, Rafi ...Read the entire review

THE PROGRAM:

Like what I would guess is the majority of Americans, I had never heard of Osama bin Laden until after September 11, 2001. But according to The Man Who Knew -- one of a large handful of PBS Frontline episodes now being made available on DVD -- there was a tiny but very significant minority, a cadre of American counterterrorism and intelligence officials, who were well aware of bin Laden's long-running, deeply entrenched, and well-financed terrorist plots. What the program reveals is a nightmare scenario of two instances of indulgence in the dark side of human nature -- one the crime of murderous violence, the other misdemeanor of petty personality conflicts, ego, and territorialism -- that colluded to allow for the awful realizatio...Read the entire review

THE PROGRAM

NOVA's "Mystery of a Masterpiece" is one of the tensest hours of educational program I've ever witnessed. Mixing equal parts mystery, history lesson and science lesson, the quest to identify whether an innocuous painting of a young woman sold an at auction is actually a lost work of art by Leonardo da Vinci shatters the modern illusion of art critics and historians being stodgy, sticks in the mud. The story begins with art collector Peter Silverman recalling the first time he saw the painting that becomes the focal point of the program and how his bid of $16,000 was beat by a bid of only $3,000 more. Initially the crux of the chase for the painting is Silverman's belief that its identification as being a 19th century work of art is false and that in fact, it's a Renaissance piece; however, years later once Silverman managed to acquire the piece, investigations would reveal a ...Read the entire review

THE PROGRAM

Brian Greene's massively successful book on the universe around us, "The Elegant Universe: Superstrings, Hidden Dimensions and the Quest for the Ultimate Theory" was followed up with an equally successful and more mind-blowing entry with "The Fabric of the Cosmos: Space, Time, and the Texture of Reality." Naturally, when something resonates with the public in the realm of science, the smart move is to get the mind behind the writing on the small screen and NOVA did just that, adapting "The Elegant Universe" in 2003 and then in 2011 with "The Fabric of the Cosmos." Condensing 400-plus pages of complex but accessible scientific information is no walk in the park and giving themselves only four, 50-odd minute episodes to do so, NOVA sets the bar high. Thankfully, the man behind it all makes for a fantastic guide into the amazing.

Beginning with the aptly titled episode "W...Read the entire review

THE PROGRAM:

One thing that many of the TV writers, producers, and actors participating in America in Primetime--a four-part PBS series on the history of American television--agree upon is that we are, right now, living at a time when the small screen constitutes some very rich soil, perhaps the richest it ever has been or will be, in which to reach the heights of finely-crafted storytelling that reaches impressive dramatic and aesthetic heights. (Look at Mad Men, Treme, Breaking Bad, et al. ...Read the entire review

THE PROGRAM

Any film fanatic worth his or her salt knows of the National Film Registry, which annually since 1989 has deemed select American films worthy of being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant." What many may not know is just how the registry came to be, and "These Amazing Shadows" sets out to provide three lessons in one: the history of the National Film Registry, a brief history lesson on film preservation, and a broad overview of milestones in American cinema. On two counts it wholly succeeds, leaving film preservation underrepresented, while the history lesson quickly turns into a finely produced and enjoyable commercial for the registry.

Established by Congress and overseen by the Library of Congress, the National Film Registry actually began as a response to the controversial colorization process slapped on films acquired by Ted Turner in the 1980s. ...Read the entire review

The TV Series:

For most of us, the thought of "craft" conjures up something along the lines of the lumpy little clay vases or landscapes made of dry macaroni we did in the second grade. While many see crafting as a childhood diversion to be set aside for other activities as we grow up, others pursue it for their entire lives. The PBS series Craft In America is dedicated to those kinds of people, dedicated artisans who put a contemporary spin on classic American crafts such as glass blowing, silversmithing, pottery and a whole lot more.

Each Craft In America episode looks into the contemporary scene as practiced by four to six individuals, communities or schools. The artisans profiled are given ample time to explain their work process an...Read the entire review

THE PROGRAM

Coming from the background of having a career in education, the PBS special "Digital Media: New Learners of the 21st Century" is a topic of great importance to me. There are two distinct viewpoints in modern education when it comes to technology, specifically the type carried by students on a daily basis, while both viewpoints agree this technology can be a distraction, the distinction comes when the notion of integrating that technology into learning is brought up. There are the tried and true stalwarts of a quickly vanishing era that things need to be kept traditional with no outside distractions and then those, who accept reality, that no amount of restrictions will eliminate students possessing this technology and if they can be utilized to improve the quality of education, then that is one to chalk up in the wins column

"Digital Media: New Learners of the 21st Cent...Read the entire review

THE SHOW:

Please Note: The stills used here are taken from the series' promotional materials, not the Blu-ray edition under review.

I've been known to complain from time to time how, every Thursday night, my Twitter feed fills up with quotes from NBC's comedy line-up. Every other tweet ends up being someone repeating a line from that evening's 30 Rock, Parks & Recreation, or Community. It can be a little annoying, particularly since I am on the west coast and the Twitterverse ...Read the entire review

THE MOVIE:

If Barak Goodman's Clinton is an uncommonly intelligent and absorbing political bio-doc, it must be noted that he has chosen as his subject a particularly compelling figure who has had an especially dramatic political life. Goodman frames his story as one of infinite second chances, of a man whose career has been a steady series of knockdowns and rebounds, a figure who took a licking and kept on ticking.

Originally airin on PBS's American Experience and running in two parts (each just shy of two hours), Clinton begins near the end, with Clinton's November 1998 apology in the Rose Garden for the Monica Lewinsky affair. From there, Goodman moves back to Clinton's first big adultery scandal, when Gennifer Flowers popped up in the run-up to the New Hampshire primary. From there it goes back to Yale (with steadfast Hillary as the link), and then back to...Read the entire review

THE FILM:

"How can the President of the United States be a black man? I never thought I'd see that in my lifetime. But while I'm seeing the president on television and the images of him leading the free world, I'm still burying black kids. It just doesn't make sense to me." - Spencer Leak, Director, Leak & Sons Funeral Home of Chicago, speaking in The Interrupters

Back in 1994, director Steve James emerged the principal creator of one of the best-known and most-admired American documentaries in memory, Hoop Dreams--the exhilarating and wrenching story of two young African-American men from the Chicago projects whose hoped-for and worked-fo...Read the entire review

Clinton (2012), which aired on PBS stations only last month and is now already out on Blu-ray, is a generally good, four-hour retrospective of (and trip down memory lane with) our 42nd President. It's about on par with other American Experience profiles of U.S. Presidents. Written, directed, and co-produced by Barak Goodman, Clinton approaches its uber-divisive subject fairly for the most part, acknowledging William Jefferson Clinton's self-destructive, even tragic personal flaws while granting him his many gifts and accomplishments, some of which have been unjustly forgotten in the wake of the notorious Monica Lewinsky sex scandal.

PBS's Blu-ray is, however, less than stellar. For starters, the 1080i presentation is mediocre. While admittedly the bulk of the program sources pre-high-def archival video...Read the entire review