I wasn't at all surprised to see John Paul Davidson listed as series producer and co-director of Stephen Fry in America (2008). Davidson served the same functions on Michael Palin's wonderful travel documentaries (Himalaya, Sahara, etc.) and this six-part program is almost exactly like those, albeit with a different host.

The basic concept finds multi-faceted Fry traveling across America in a London taxicab. (Fry actually owns and drives one back in England, though this isn't the same vehicle.) The opening titles suggest he'll visit only the contiguous United States, but in the last episode he visits Alaska and Hawaii as well, allowing for stops - however briefly - in all 50 states.

That determination to include every single state in the union is one of the program's many problems. It's entertaining overall and never dull but ultimately it comes off as disappointingly generic...Read the entire review

The Product:
At this point in his career, Gordon Ramsay could technically coast on his larger than life reputation. He has Michelin stars, multiple television shows, and a following that includes the famous, the infamous, and the typical homegrown cook. He can even manage to mollify scandal, as when a notorious "mistress to the stars" suggested that she and the high profile celebrity shared a series of "intimate" encounters a few years back (an allegation Ramsay vehemently denied). Now, with his food service empire shaken by the recent economic crisis, the curse-word king remains a pop culture fixture. Last month, DVD distributor BFS released the first series of the entrepreneur's entertaining cooking-cum-chat show The f Word. Series 2 is now out on the digital domain, and while missing an important ingredient for any fan of Ramsay and his resilient public persona, it's another foray ...Read the entire review

The Product:
Gordon Ramsay may be a lot of things - loud, obnoxious, brash, arrogant, opinionated, foul-mouthed, egotistical, hilarious - but there is one thing that he is not, and that's un-talented. The man behind several sensational high end eateries in England and abroad may talk the haute cuisine talk, but with his many Michelin stars and critical acclaimed restaurants, this member of the Order of the British Empire can definitely walk the good food walk. With series like Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares and Hell's Kitchen, only one side of the Scottish firebrand is usually seen. While he can be compassionate and understanding, most fans come looking for him to drop the F-bomb like parsley on the side of the plate. Leave it to the able entrepreneur to understand all facets of such a reputation. He even named one of his more interesting TV experiments The f Word. Except, ...Read the entire review

Though the world is facing the gloomy likelihood of peak oil, we can take some comfort in knowing that the second most-traded legal commodity, coffee, is in no danger of drying up.

The 174-minute documentary Black Coffee (2005) is written and directed by Irene Angelico, whose previous work includes the documentary The Cola Conquest (1998) about the marketing of fizzy drinks.

Black Coffee was made in cooperation with Canadian broadcaster TVOntario and is consequently divided into three TV-friendly, 58-minute episodes. Episode one recounts the origin and spread of coffee around the world and its role...Read the entire review

The Film:
Australian director Andrew Dominik's film Chopper was one of my favorite movies of 2000. Likewise, director Ray Lawrence's 2001 film Lantana was amazing, and Phillip Noyce's Rabbit-Proof Fence was simply brilliant. All three films are Australian, and top a rather lengthy list of movies that have come out of either Australia or New Zealand over the years, and have earned a special place in my heart. And while I have not seen every movie ever made in Australia or New Zealand, I don't recall ever seeing one that wasn't at least pretty damn good, which was what was running through my mind when I watched The Postcard Bandit. "It's from Australia," I said to myself. "How bad can it be?"

Inspired by the true story of legendary bank robber Brenden "BJ" Abbott (Tom Long), The Postcard Bandit takes place in 1990s Australia, when escaped-convict Abbott beg...Read the entire review

The Crow Road is a miniseries made by BBC Scotland that is basedon a novel by Iain Banks.  The back of the case states that this seriesis a mystery, and in a way it is.  A more accurate description wouldbe that it's a character study of a Scottish family with some black comicmoments.  While the program does have some interesting bits, the story is slowand fairly aimless for most of its running time.

PrenticeMcHoan is a slacker who doesn't have much ambition or aim in life. One day his grandmother puts in idea into his head that slowly takes root: he'll discover what happened to his Uncle Rory.  Seven years previousRory hopped onto his motorcycle in Glasgow and headed off to see his brothe...Read the entire review

The Mini-Series

This review covers the British Broadcasting Channel television mini-series Conviction, which should not be confused with the short-lived U.S. television series Conviction, which was about a group of young and overworked prosecutors set in the Law & Order universe. The British mini-series Conviction is of a very different nature. It was released in 2004 and is made up of six hour long episodes. The mini-series is about a single case and a couple detectives who went too far to get a conviction, vigilante-style. The series has been heralded as an intense psychological show that gets you thinking, draws you in, and doesn't let go. As for my opinion, I enjoyed it a l...Read the entire review

It's one of the ironies of filmmaking that as the budgets of SF filmsget higher and higher, the number of interesting ideas and thoughts, thehallmark of great science fiction, gets smaller and smaller.  Forthought provoking and unique SF one has to turn to smaller independentmovies, such as the 2001 feature Ever Since the World Ended. Made by first time feature filmmakers Calum Grant and Joshua Atesh Litle,this movie proves that large piles of cash aren't needed to make a solidfilm.  An examination of what the world would be like if just abouteveryone died, the topic has been covered before (Jeremiah,Survivors, and On the Beach to name just a few).  Thisfilm does manage to take a fresh look at the subject and paints an i...Read the entire review

The Movie

It's a fairly reliable fact that people like familiarity and dislike change. For example, if something, such as a movie or a TV show, is famous, when we hear that title, we immediately think of that movie or show. Thus, for most people, "The Honeymooners" will bring the 1950s TV show to mind. (Or, for some unfortunate souls, they 2005 movie with Cedric the Entertainer.) So, it was surprising to come across an Irish film called The Honeymooners. Maybe the Jackie Gleason show isn't well-known in Ireland. Or maybe, The Honeymooners is better than the title which would better fit the film, "Two A*&holes in a Cottage".

As The Honeymooners opens, we are introduced to David (Jonathan Byrne), a young man who is about to be married. After a misguided toast with his best man Ben (David Nolan), where booze is spilled on David's pants, his day gets eve...Read the entire review

The First Season

Taggart is a long running crime drama. Set in Glasgow, Scotland, the detectives of the Maryhilll Police Department's Criminal Investigation Division (CID) trudge through one grisly murder after another that always end with a twist. The series started in 1983 with the episode "Killer". Later in 1985 another two episodes, "Dead Ringer" and "Murder in Season", followed. These episodes are dubbed as season one and are packaged together in Taggart: Killer Set.

At a first glance, I wasn't very impressed by Taggart. The show lacks the flash of modern crime dramas like C.S.I. and the intense drama from NYPD Blue. But I found once you start to get into Taggart, it quickly grows on you. The real interest comes from watching the main character unravel the mystery at hand. Taggart also does a splendid job developing the main cha...Read the entire review

The Movies:

Following up the release of the After School Specials 1974 – 1976 collection, BCI has slapped four more seventies pre-teen melodramas onto DVD for the first time all available in one handy and easy to use package. What do we get? Four more forty-five minute vignettes of life situations that face every day kids like you and me handled with sap, sadness, and valuable morals. Let's take another walk down memory lane and have a look at the goods…

Francesca, Baby: Francesca (Carol Jones) and Kate (Tara Talboy) are two regular girls with a sadly all too regular problem – their mother is a raging drunk. If the two girls had the support of their father it might be manageable, but sadly rather than deal with the problems at home, daddy dearest chooses to ignore the issue and spend as little time in his abode as possible, instead choosing to travel often for bus...Read the entire review

The Movies:

I know I'm not the only one out there who fondly remembers the After School Specials that ran periodically on ABC from 1972 until 1988. In fact, I can guarantee that I'm not, as BCI Eclipse has started releasing the old teleplays on DVD format in four episode collections. These little forty five minute morality plays (that were stretched out to an hour once commercials were factored in) took 'slice of life' situations that every day teens and pre-teens might have to deal with and gave them a spin that made them easy to digest, often times with a depressing ending in order to warn kids about such follies.

While much of the material here is very dated, at the time producer Martin Tahse was doing something unique and original in youth oriented programming and the series did win a fair share of awards, including an Emmy or two.

The Eighteenth Emergency: Ch...Read the entire review

The Movie

If you're like me -- you often wonder just what in the hell ever happened to the Hudson brothers -- you might find yourself thinking, after watching David Lean's beyond-brilliant Lawrence of Arabia, "Damn! When are they coming out with a sequel?!" Right? Wrong. You don't. You are the savvy DVD Talk-browsing, film-adoring, DVD-addicted movie aficionado who wouldn't dream of it. And more power to you, because when I first came across A Dangerous Man: Lawrence After Arabia I was instantly puzzled and aghast. Who in Heaven or on Earth would even attempt a sequel to what is arguably one of the t...Read the entire review

There is more chaos and mayhem from the boys (and girl) at MI-5 in thissecond season of The Piglet Files.  Similar to Get Smart(though more down to earth,) this comedic look at the inner workings ofBritain's intelligence agency is silly, but fun to watch.

The second season consisted of the following episodes:

The Wright Stuff:  An ex-intelligence officer is rumoredto be writing a book that will "blow the lid off of MI-5."  Piglet'swife, an editor at a publishing house, was just editing a book called "TheColdest War."  When Drummond finds out, he orders Dexter and Pigletto steal the manuscript.

Red Spy at Night:  A Soviet spy who wants to defect claimsthat Major Maxwell is on the Russian payroll.  Could the informationbe correct?  Drummond want...Read the entire review

The Movie:

Seven novels or short stories written by famous British author Evelyn Waugh ended up making the transition from page to screen. The novel "Scoop" made the move twice – once as an early-70s BBC television series and again in 1987 as a Masterpiece Theatre production.

The latter has made its way to DVD thanks to Granada International and BFS Video, and captures both the novel's brilliant and somewhat prescient satire of the mass media and its lack of character exploration.

William Boot (Michael Maloney) is a perfectly mediocre outdoors writer, filing a weekly column filled with clichéd hyperbole about the beauty of wildlife. But after being mistaken for another more experienced journalist, he is sent to the east African war zone of Ishmaelia, where he stumbles and bumbles his way into the story of a lifetime, all the while being hustled by a quasi-Teutoni...Read the entire review

I'll admit it.  I've always liked comic reliefs.  You know,the dumb sidekicks who could never do anything right.  No matter howsimple the task, they'd always find some way to mess it up.  Yeah,a lot of them were obnoxious, and they always stretched credibility, butfor some reason I always laughed.  It wasn't the fact that they goofedsomething up, you knew that was going to happen, but it was theway they did it that was so entertaining.  If you enjoy stupid bumblingcharacters as much as I do, then you'll love The Piglet Files, aBritish TV show where all the characters are comic reliefs.

MI-5, Britain's intelligence agency, needs someone to train their agentsin the use of the latest high tech spy equipment.  They hire PeterChapman to do the job (after arranging to have him fired from his lastposition.)  Though...Read the entire review

THE FILM
The first half of the 1982 television film, Loving Walter, is one of the most realistic portrayals of the mentally challenged that I've ever seen. Because of this, it's one of the most depressing films I've seen in a very long time. The pacing and structure of the film truly allow audiences to access Walter's world, making for a very powerful film that is almost too overwhelming for its own good.

Walter, played masterfully by Sir Ian McKellen, is a mentally challenged man living with his parents in Britain. His condition obviously weighs heavily on his parents, but this doesn't seem to have that much of a negative impact on him. He's a strong man with a job and a possible future who finds solitude with his pigeons. Walter becomes a very likable character, one whom I was pulling for when his mother shouts at him or when his coworkers mock him. Although he might be slow menta...Read the entire review

The Movie:

A drama that comments on the injustices in the world is walking on theedge (to use a metaphor from this show.)  If it fails to tread thatfine line, it can turn into a melodrama if it lands on one side or becomepreachy it if lands on the other.  Burned Bridge tries sucha feat.  It doesn't succeed entirely, dipping into both melodramaand preaching at various times, but it doesn't wholly fail either.

Burned Bridge is a 13 part miniseries from Australia.  Itstars Kate Blanchett as Beth Ashton, a young radio producer.  Aftergoing through a messy divorce, she wants some peace and quiet and a chanceto sort out her life.  She finds herself in the small town BrooklynWaters in New South Wales.  Her deceased grandfather, Jock, had lived there, and being his only living relative, his house and land...Read the entire review

The movie

Reporters have the potential tobe very interesting characters for a film or television show: they're motivatedto get the "scoop" on events that other people may or may not wantrevealed, and they're not bound by the same restrictions as police or otherofficial investigators – they want the story, not necessarily proof that willstand up in court – so they can get a plot rolling with their investigations.And since the newspaper has to come out day after day, there's always more newsthat has to be dug up... the perfect premise for a weekly TV series.

That, at least, is what theAustralian series Mercury has going for it, and if you're fascinated bythe whole world of journalism and investigative reporting, it may even beenough. The "Mercury" of the show's title refers to the Su...Read the entire review

Many viewers will be familiar with the name Daniel Defoe for his creation of the archetypal castaway, Robinson Crusoe, which has been brought to film dozens of times. But this eighteenth-century novelist wrote a number of other famous works as well, the most notable of which is Moll Flanders, or to give it its full title, The Fortunes and Misfortunes of Moll Flanders. Oddly, only a handful of film productions have treated this novel, and two of them were released in the same year, 1996. One was a theatrical release starring Morgan Freeman and Robin Wright Penn, the other a Masterpiece Theatre television miniseries starring Alex Kingston. It's the latter piece that's the subject of this review... and it's the latter piece that is, indeed, the better of the two renditions.

The original Moll Flanders is what's known as a picaresque novel: rather than having an overall n...Read the entire review

Set in post-WWII Australia, in a dusty former military station called Beringa, Bordertown focuses on the intertwined lives and hopes of a very diverse group of people who have left their old lives, and often their families, behind in order to start again in a new world. The characters range from optimists to pessimists, from hard workers to scoundrels, but all are united by a common desire to make new lives for themselves.

I found the premise to be interesting, but the material never rises as high as it could have. A certain lack of context made the first few episodes difficult: there's little indication of exactly when the story takes place or what the details of the situation are; those who are more familiar with Australian history will obviously not have as much difficulty, but I did wish for a little more background information on the series' setting.

Bordertown is hal...Read the entire review

Described as the most popular British television series ever, The Darling Buds of May might be better known now as the show that made a star out of Catherine Zeta-Jones, in her first major role. Fans of the series will be very pleased to see it make its debut on DVD, in a complete collection: this five-DVD set from BFS includes all three seasons and both Christmas specials.

The Darling Buds of May is a lighthearted series focusing on the adventures (and misadventures) of a decidedly eccentric, but extremely happy family in 1950s Britain. Viewers are invited to feel a part of the ample Larkin family: to smile indulgently at Pa (David Jason) with all his escapades, the perpetually good-spirited Ma (Pam Ferris), the slightly awkward former city-boy Charlie (Philip Franks), and spirited Mariette (Catherine Zeta-Jones), along with all the rest of the gaggle of children, neighbors, and ...Read the entire review

THE STRAIGHT DOPE:
Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing, Bela Lugosi, and Vincent Price. Imagine them all banding together in one all-star neck-biting vampire spectacular. Well, it never happened and they're nearly all dead (only Lee is still alive, and, incredibly, acting in both Lord of the Rings and Attack of the Clones), but at least BFS Entertainment, purveyors of fine fly-by-night public domain DVD releases, have thought to compile all these great actors on one disc. That's right! You get The Satanic Rites of Dracula (with Lee and Cushing), The Devil Bat (with Lugosi) and The Last Man on Earth (with Price) all on one side of one DVD. "How can they cram three feature films onto a single disc," you ask? Well, not without certain sacrifices to image quality, that's for sure. Still, for under $10 this disc, flaws and all, is a great deal.

The Satanic...Read the entire review