The First Season

If you have never heard of the television series Forensic Investigators it is probably because it is an Australian based television series, and well, how good is your reception? I know prior to it coming to DVD in the North American markets, I had never heard of the series. The show is relatively new, first airing in September 2004 on Australia's Seven Network. It is a documentary-based crime-inspired series that details some of Australia's most gruesome murderers and serial killers. The level of detail is pretty much what they can cram about the murderer/serial killer, victim, and the related case details into forty-five minutes. What is covered is a lot of information about the cases, which include interviews with the detectives, forensic techni...Read the entire review

In the early 1980s, London was not only a target for the IRA, but also for a ring of master counterfeiters that were flooding the streets with remarkably convincing fake currency. Scotland Yard's quest to crack this ring is the focus of "The Magician," a 1993 made-for-TV production notable now for the appearance of a young Clive Owen.

Owen plays George Byrne, the detective paired up with David Katz (Jay Avocone), a brash American salesman who's probably used to shady dealings and dangerous men. Katz, who stumbles upon the ring early on, becomes the Yard's front man in this case, and it turns out he's pretty good at playing the undercover game. In fact, his way of maneuvering the deal is smarter than the cops', as Katz finds it rather easy in getting closer and closer to the ultimate source: a mysterious counterfeiter known only as the Magician.

Jeff Pope's screenplay features all the usua...Read the entire review

The Movie

Lie With Me is a two-part television movie special from British television company Granada Television. The movie falls under the crime/mystery genre. It is about a twisted plot to find a killer and rapist, as well as the taboo relationship between the victim and the investigating detective. Overall, I didn't find the story or its character intriguing in the slightest. At best, this is a mediocre movie that is probably not worth purchasing, but might be worth the time if you randomly caught it on television.

The story opens with roommates Roselyn "Ros" Tyler (Eve Best) and Joanna "Jo" McCourt (Stacey Roca) preparing for an evening of fun. The two are twenty-something's who enjoy life to the fullest. In the next segment, Ros awakens in a stupor without recollection of the previous nights events. As far as she can tell, she and Jo were partying and drinking until they pa...Read the entire review

The movie

The Last Musketeer looks likea cheesy movie. In fact, for the most part it is... but it'ssurprisingly good cheese. Sure, it won't win any awards for highdrama, but by taking itself seriously enough to do a decent job, thefilm manages to overcome its tendency toward melodrama, and deliversan entertaining experience. Even more importantly - and here we getto the real reason I decided to review this DVD - the film manages topresent modern sport fencing with an amazing degree of accuracy.

Let's get the basics squared awayfirst. The plot of The Last Musketeer is decidedlymelodramatic: Steve McTear (Robson Green) is an elite fencer whoabruptly finds himself not only missing out on a spot on the BritishWorld Championship team, but also on the run from both his formercriminal associates and (unjustly) the po...Read the entire review

A little bit "CSI" (if "CSI" wasn't forced to hold back by appearing on a major broadcast network), a little bit "Law & Order: Criminal Intent" and seasoned liberally with a dash of starchy British whodunit, the award-winning, critically acclaimed Wire in the Blood has captivated Anglophile mystery fanatics on the Yankee side of the Atlantic for three seasons (and counting) on BBC America. Based upon Val McDermid's best-selling novels, the crime drama stars Robson Green (who, so help me God, strongly resembles Bob Odenkirk of "Mr. Show" fame) as Dr. Tony Hill, a clinical psychologist skilled at digging deep and empathizing with both victim and killer, as well as maintaining a sideline as a university lecturer.

Dr. Hill's colleague on the local police force, Detective Inspector Carol Jordan (Hermione Norris) is an intelligent, highly motivated officer who relies upon Dr. Hill's abi...Read the entire review

The movie

Sometimes a film "based on atrue story" can be quite good, but I've found that all too oftenthey're like Cause Celebre: tired and ultimately ratherlifeless stories that seem to have lost track of their narrativeimpulse. The subject matter of this film may have set the headlinesof 1935 England on fire, but the material doesn't hold up to itstransition from gossip to story.

Helen Mirren plays Alma Rattenbury,a middle-aged housewife who gets drawn into a love affair with her18-year-old chauffeur, George Bowman. When her ailing husband isfound bludgeoned to death, Alma confesses, but despite this, anddespite the storm of horrified public opinion that sweeps the nation,her attorney (David Suchet) is committed to saving her life.

The film is structured so that italternates bet...Read the entire review

Some Background On Lindsey Buckingham-

Lindsey Buckingham has been something of a rock/pop icon since the mid-seventies. When Buckingham and Stevie Nicks joined Fleetwood Mac in 1975 he immediately showed just how talented he is- there may not be a household from the seventies that didn't have the Mac album "Rumors" on its shelves at some point- and when leaving in the late-eighties he also showed just how vital to the band's immense success one artist can be, even in an ensemble of very notable (and in Nicks' case, legendary) performers in their own right.

Never truly established as a solo artist before joining Fleetwood Mac, Buckingham's own career didn't seem to catch fire when leaving the band. The most popular Fleetwood Mac lineup reformed in the mid-nineties for a hugely successful reunion tour and has since released their first studio album (sans Christine McVie) "Say You W...Read the entire review

The Movie

Quite blatantly positioned as a knock-off of this year's wildly successful March of the Penguins (right down to the DVD cover's photo and typeface), the standard issue nature flick Penguins Under Siege, produced by Peter Lamberti, Lolli Goodson and Virginia Quinn, is neither very inspired or particularly gripping. Set on the South African Skeleton Coast, alternately known as the "Coast of Fury," the film follows a pair of – I'm not making this up – jackass penguins named Lucy and Sam (although the back cover of the DVD inexplicably calls him Louie) against the, and I quote, "dramatic backdrop to a story of life and death struggles where only the strongest can survive."

Which is to say, the filmmakers detail the daily lives of a clutch of South African penguins, complete with all of the hostile struggles that can materialize in a matter of seconds. ...Read the entire review

The Movie

Based upon Nobel Prize winning author Alexander Solzhenitsyn's novel of the same name, First Circle is a sprawling, deliciously paranoid Cold War thriller that features an impressive cast (F. Murray Abraham, Christopher Plummer and Victor Garber, among others) and a grim, almost oppressive sense of late Forties Russia under Josef Stalin's iron-fisted rule – the miniseries was filmed on location in wintry Moscow.

This 1991 made-for-TV miniseries, directed by Sheldon Larry, spends roughly three days in Mavrino Prison, specially designed by reigning dictator Josef Stalin (F. Murray Abraham) for physicists, mathematicians, electrical engineers and other intellectuals to participate in state-supported scientific research. One day, a mysterious individual makes a panicked phone call to the American embassy. The phone call is recorded by the Ministry of Security, who,...Read the entire review

The Movie

I admit – it was a mistake to revisit The Long Good Friday before viewing the cheeky British export Captain Jack. I was whetting my appetite for Bob Hoskins, but in watching the 1980 crime classic, I ruined any hopes of enjoying the admittedly versatile thespian as a lovable, eccentric seaman consumed with honoring his idol, English mariner Captain Scoresby, who charted a course from Northern England to the Arctic in 1791. A man not given to following the rules, Jack Armistead defies ship inspectors who rule that his vessel isn't fit for seafaring, gathers a motley crew together and strikes out for the Arctic to honor his hero, Captain Scoresby.

Billed on the DVD case as a film "in the tradition of British comedies Waking Ned Devine and Tight Little Island," I'd argue to the marketing folks that those comparisons are aiming a little high â€...Read the entire review

The Movie:
You have to love a title that gets right down to the point, as does Shape: Your Best Butt Fast. What else is there to say? Viewers know exactly what to expect from a title like this: an efficient workout that will maximize results when it comes to shaping the gluteus maximus, hopefully turning it into a gluteus minimus in short order.

Host Violet begins with plenty of advice and an introduction to basic yoga. The workout is fast paced and for the most part, low-impact. There are simulated kickboxing, jump rope, and yoga moves that are varied enough to keep the interest level high. The boppy, pseudo-techno music leaves something to be desired, so you may want to turn up the stereo or listen to headphones, however this means that listening to Violet's often helpful instructions is impossible.

One great aspect about the Self video series is the ...Read the entire review

The Movie:
Self: Slim and Sleek Fast focuses on overall health and toning in a series of exercises aimed at toning the entire body. The goal of the workout is to raise the heart rate and burn fat, rather than to focus on a specific area of the body, as Self: Your Best Butt Fast does.

Ellen, the instructor of this workout, leads viewers through a warm-up, a series of ballet moves aimed at toning the legs, as well as two cardiovascular workouts. The final workout involves hand weights, so viewers may want to keep that in mind. Fortunately, the scene selection allows viewers to tune into a favorite part of the workout, so it is possible to skip the weight training if a viewer does not possess weights. For the full benefits of the DVD, however, weights are recommended.

I recommend viewing the "Tips" section first, which comes at the end of the DVD; this section g...Read the entire review

By now, Dan Brown should be a household name and chances are very good that one of his novels has graced your coffee table at some point. His most recent success, The Da Vinci Code, has garnered widespread attention and is even on its way to be a motion picture that is being released next year, starring Tom Hanks. Before Brown's better known book found success, another novel of his, Angels and Demons, laid out the pattern of things to come.

Both stories follow the exploits of the character Robert Langdon, who is a Professor of Religious Symbology at Harvard University. While the Da Vinci Code has Langdon solving the murder of a curator at the Louvre, it quickly turns into a mystery full of cryptic messages hidden in da Vinci's works. In Angels and Demons Langdon has to stop the Illuminati from destroying the Vatican with a powerful an...Read the entire review

The Performance

I was a teenager when I found out exactly who Lenny Bruce was, and it took me only about 15 seconds before my sympathy for the unjustly vilified comedian was replaced with anger. "Wait, they arrested the guy ... for using profanity. More than three times. Uh-huh. And every time he went back to the stage to earn a living, there were cops waiting in the wings to give the guy some trouble. Damn. And then the guy kills himself with a drug overdose at the age of 40, despite the fact that he was one of the most talented and insightful comedians of his day. Damn, this is a miserable story."

Those who'd like to learn a bit about the man Lenny Bruce was could rent the Bob Fosse / Dustin Hoffman film Lenny, check out a copy of Bruce's own How to Talk Dirty and Influence People, or dig up one of several worthwhile biographies. The guy was a genius, a wicked wit, and a perf...Read the entire review

Nick Simon (John Hannah) is going through a rough patch.  He'sa widower with a 10-year old daughter, no romantic prospects, and his jobas a reporter for a British tabloid is in danger.  When he gets setup on a blind date with Polly Moreton (Susannah Harker who also appearedin Ultraviolet) things go well.  They seem to hit it off,and a drunken Polly tells Nick that her father, Peter John Moreton (MichaelGambon) a member of Parliament, has been having an affair with his secretary. She's hoping that he'll print the story to get back at a father whose causedher and her mother so much pain.

Nick really likes Polly, so he keeps the story, one that could savehis career, under his hat.  That is until she stops returning hiscalls.  She's scared off by the fact that he has a daughter, and isn'tsure she wants to get involved with some...Read the entire review

In 10 Words or Less
The latest set from the comedienne/revolutionary

Reviewer's Bias*
Loves: Stand-up comedy
Likes: Margaret Cho's early shows
Dislikes: Overly political comedy
Hates: One-bit comics

The Show
Margaret Cho was, at one time, one of my favorite comics. Her stand-up, built around her imitation of her mother and a self-deprecating sense of humor, was a lot of fun to watch, as she mined her (non-)ethnic background for some great jokes like The Margaret Cho Diet. Unfortunately, those days are over.

The new Margaret Cho doesn't get many laughs. This show, filmed in Washington, D.C., is packed with her fanbase, but there's not a single burst of spontaneous laughter to be heard. Dressed in her hippie f...Read the entire review

There is probably no better match between medium and genre than horror and the short film. Most memorable fright flicks are not wall-to-wall chills and thrills, (well, some are - more on this some other time) but a hodgepodge of exposition and excess, linked by several mini-moment set pieces of shock. Psycho is a perfect example of this philosophy. The shower scene, the killing of Arbogast, and Mrs. Bates final "revelation" are the major macabre sequences that sell the movie. They would work (perhaps not as well, though) without the narrative linking them together. But Hitchcock's Freudian field day would sure be deadly dull without them. The Exorcist is another example of a fairly straightforward domestic drama interspersed with some of the most sensational, horrifying moments in movie history. Few people remember the divorce dynamic to the film. But no one looks at a crucifix or a can o...Read the entire review

The Movie:

Like the documentary "Double Dare", which looked at stuntwomen in movies, "Lipstick and Dynamite" looks at women doing very well in what used to be considered a male-dominated area - wrestling. Only, these aren't the latest ladies of wrestling - at least by a few decades. The women interviewed for "Lipstick and Dynamite" are some of the first women wrestlers - the ones that did it at fairs and other tournaments in the 50's.

The women tell stories of being in abusive relationships and growing up in tough households, with wrestling able to not only train them to protect themselves, but also get them out of the town/situation they were in. Director Ruth Leitman fills the film with interviews done with the several women profiled, who have a reunion-of-sorts at one point in the picture. Archival footage also provides a nice visual look at some of the matches and some of their...Read the entire review

Death. Whether we admit it or not we're all afraid of death in one way or another. In fact, many of our day to day decisions are based around our desire not to die. Buckling a seatbelt, going out for a run, choosing the salad over the chicken fried steak, these choices while all can be said are for one reason all stem from the fear of death. We don't want to die. Filmmakers Patrick Shen and Greg Bennick explore death not only in the literal sense, but also in the symbolic way and even social death in Flight from Death: The Quest for Immortality.

Narrated by Gabriel Byrne, Flight from Death takes viewers through what initially comes off as a depressing realization that all living things die (as humans, we are possibly the only living organism that can recognize the inevitability of death), but turns around and becomes an interesting feature on human behavior and details some interesting studies ...Read the entire review

I can just hear the conversation that goes on in the bowels of the Koch Vision Film Library.

"Um ... I got Richard Chamberlain and Faye Dunaway in The Woman I Love. Looks like a Victorian era thing."

"Next."

"OK, this one's ... John Ritter and Carrie Fisher in Leave Yesterday Behind. 1978, ABC..."

"Put that in the maybe pile."

"Oh, how about The Beasts Are on the Streets? It's about a zoo that gets..."

"Next."

"All I have left in this gunnysack full of Betamax tapes is To Catch a King. Robert Wagner and ... Teri Garr?"

"Done. Slap it onto a DVD and ship it on out. There's gotta be at least 19 people out there who want to own a TV-movie from 1984 that's as hilariously awful as it is justifiably forgotten."

Maybe it's the accent. Maybe it's his role in the James Bond series as Q, the sophisticated scientist, or in Fawlty Towers as Basil Fawlty, the faux-sophisticated hotel owner. But actor/writer/Python John Cleese just seems like a guy that knows wine, doesn't he?

Oddly enough, he doesn't. Yet here we are anyway, with John Cleese – Wine for the Confused, a chance for him – and, by proxy, us – to learn about all things wine: How it's made, how to describe it and why it costs so much at a restaurant.

The documentary – designed to fit snugly into a two-hour block on the Food Network – features Cleese learning about the terminology used to describe wine (with several friends, including Brendan Fraser), traveling to different wineries on California's central coast and talking about what wine to serve with what dishes.

Having a wine neophyte host like Cleese adds...Read the entire review

A little bit "CSI" (if "CSI" wasn't forced to hold back by appearing on a major broadcast network), a little bit "Law & Order: Criminal Intent" and seasoned liberally with a dash of starchy British whodunit, the award-winning, critically acclaimed Wire in the Blood has captivated Anglophile mystery fanatics on the Yankee side of the Atlantic for three seasons (and counting) on BBC America. Based upon Val McDermid's best-selling novels, the crime drama stars Robson Green (who, so help me God, strongly resembles Bob Odenkirk of "Mr. Show" fame) as Dr. Tony Hill, a clinical psychologist skilled at digging deep and empathizing with both victim and killer, as well as maintaining a sideline as a university lecturer.

Dr. Hill's colleague on the local police force, Detective Inspector Carol Jordan (Hermione Norris) is an intelligent, highly motivated officer who relies upon Dr. Hill's abi...Read the entire review

The movie

I've enjoyed Chris Isaak's music,especially his moody San Francisco Days and Baja Sessionsalbums, so it was an easy pick to review the DVD of his 2003 liveperformance on PBS' Soundstage. It's an entertaining concert,with Isaak trotting out a number of fan favorites, though as a DVD,it's not one of the stronger concert presentations that I've seen.

The set list is a mix of songs fromvarious of Isaak's albums, ranging from down-beat and melancholy tomore energetic pop-rock: "American Boy," "WickedGame," "Heart-Shaped World," Go Walking Down There,""Baby Did a Bad, Bad Thing," "Courthouse,""Somebody's Crying," "One Day," "SanFrancisco Days," &...Read the entire review

Seemingly identical to a 2002 DVD release of the same set of episodes, The Maigret Collection nonetheless is a superb mystery series that's an absolute must for fans of the genre. Just as Jeremy Brett and David Suchet redefined (and arguably created definitive interpretations of) Sherlock Holmes and Hercule Poirot in their respective and hugely popular series and TV-movies, each adapted for British television, so too does the great actor Michael Gambon (The Singing Detective, The Cook, the Thief, His Wife, & Her Lover) with Georges Simenon's enduring Chief Inspector Jules Maigret of the Paris Surete.

The set includes the entire run of the series, which ran over two short seasons of six episodes apiece in 1992-93. The mysteries themselves are above average, but that's not the reason to watch it. Rather it's Maigret (pronounced "May-Gray") himself, a captivatingly subtle crimi...Read the entire review

The Movie:

When celebrating an anniversary recently, I bought two very different wines - a 1999 red wine and a 2003 ice wine. The ice wine was delicate and delicious, with a smooth and pleasant taste that I thought was absolutely delightful. The wine offered different aromas, and the wine itself offered different fruit tastes and a full-bodied overall feel. The red wine, first out of the bottle was so acidic and bitter that that's all I could focus on - there were nothing delicate or detailed about the wine, and it went down hard. Once the wine had a chance to breathe and seem a little calmer, I liked it slightly more, but was still not a fan of it. I eventually used most of it for cooking, which turned out alright.

However, the thing is is that I am not a wine expert, and drink maybe a few times per year. I had no idea about these wines when buying them, and spent a lot of time br...Read the entire review

Dark, gritty, uncompromising films like The Silence of the Lambs---and to a lesser extent, Manhunter---have really done a lot for television, haven't they? Spawning such classic shows as Chris Carter's The X-Files and even CSI, crime dramas exploded starting in the early 1990s, and they're still popping up all over the place. The public's fascination with brutal crimes (and the police procedures that solve them) has made household names out of shows that wouldn't have even been conceived decades ago. Even with an endless sting of copycats riding the coattails of our beloved classics, plenty of new shows manage to break some new ground in the genre. Of course, they're not always made in America.

Wire in the Blood is that kind of show. It's part X-Files, part Millennium and part CSI, but this British import's unique characters, atmosphere and...Read the entire review