The Spy Factory is an essay docu written and produced by author James Bamford, a sharp critic of America's intelligence community. Audiences accustomed to cable TV conspiracy mongering will be intrigued by the docu's lack of scare tactics and its linear, no-nonsense approach to its subject. The show simply asks if the National Security Agency had enough information to reasonably predict the 9/11 attack, and what they've done since to make us more safe. After viewing the docu, I would think that its only detractors would be people who don't want those questions asked.

The show takes things slowly, and keeps its argument simple. At times it appears to be presenting a primer on the functions of Intelligence agencies. Unlike representations in movie and TV thrillers, the NSA does not put dashing agents into the field to fight America'...Read the entire review

THE MOVIE:

When I was a kid, I had a friend whose family had a set of Time Life books that spanned a variety of subjects regarding the universe we live in. The final book in the series was my favorite, though, and the one I tried to sneak a peek at any time I visited. It was the book on outer space, on what was beyond our own atmosphere, and it included chapters on each planet in our solar system. These featured artistic interpretations of what alien life maybe could have been like based on our knowledge at the time. Pluto was still a planet, and it had purple and white creatures that leapt into the sky on springy legs. If I recall, the Martians were the opposite, craggy orange creatures, earthbound, designed to survive the hot weather. Just imagine!

This was ...Read the entire review

THE PROGRAM

Chances are you've seen one and you just didn't realize it. Fractals are most recognized as a series of circular shapes with a border surrounded by jagged "tail-like" objects. NOVA's episode, "Fractals: Hunting the Hidden Dimension" is a quite interesting fifty minute look at the topic.

The program, aimed at the average viewer does a fine job of explaining the background of fractals, first by beginning with the story of Pixar co-founder, Loren Carpenter's work at Boeing, developing 3D terrain from scratch using fractals. From there the program starts at the beginning with an introduction to Benoit Mandelbrot and his revolutionary work. The explanations are full of solid factual information but never talk above the level of a viewer who has some understanding of basic mathematical principles. Once the concept is presented the program spends the rest of the time showi...Read the entire review

The Movie:
Do any of you parents who might be reading this have a similar division of homework helper labor as do I and my wife? I handle all of the arts and literature side of things, and my dear wife handles all of the math. She made it through calculus and trigonometry, while I was barely able to prove that a triangle had three sides. Therefore, you must go to another review if you want a high-falutin' analysis of the math behind Fractals: Hunting the Hidden Dimension. While I think I understand at least the basic concepts discussed in this at times visually mind blowing Nova episode, usually when I think I understand something mathematical, that almost always ends up meaning I haven't the foggiest clue.

I remember very well sometime in the 1970s, perhaps even at around the same time as Benoit Mandelbrot was developing his "Mandelbrot Set" and theory of fractals (jagge...Read the entire review

The Film:
More often than not, when there is a story in the news about black people in the inner city, it is steeped in negativity and stereotypes. We've all seen the plight of urban blight, and the ghetto squalor that has destroyed so many lives; but a continuous barrage of these stories and images is enough to drain the life out of even the most optimistic of souls, leaving them depressed and dejected. This is why director Andrea Kalin's documentary The Pact is such a refreshing experience. Instead of dwelling on the negativity that has become the defacto image of inner city life, Kalin instead focuses on something incredibly positive.

Sampson Davis, Rameck Hunt and George Jenkins--known in many circles as the Three Doctors--grew up on the mean streets of Newark, New Jersey. While in their teens, the three friends decided to make something of their lives, and formed a pact that th...Read the entire review

Note: This review is based on a pre-release screener and may or may not reflect the content of the final product.

The Movie:
Flying the Secret Sky, which will soon be premiering on PBS stations around the country, is a fascinating look into a little known facet of both aviation history and World War II history in general: the development and implementation of the Royal Air Force Ferry Command, a death defying mission to get fighter aircraft to the United Kingdom across the North Atlantic, at that time the most treacherous air route in the world.

Producer-director William VanDerKloot has a personal stake in this story--his father was one of the heroic pilots who fought technological limitations and hazards of weather to help arm England when it was the most isolated and threatened country in Europe, after Hitler's invading hoardes had overtaken most of the rest of the conti...Read the entire review

Public Television has been educating the masses for quite a few decades though its NOVA brand goes a little beyond the typical programming. It was kind of a landmark show for its day and undoubtedly helped to usher in a new era of documentaries related to science and our Earth. NOVA has been on public broadcasting since 1974 and has well over 600 episodes under its belt. Some of the episodes have hit DVD in the past and their latest one comes semi-fresh from its airing in February of this year.

The Four-Winged Dinosaur explores the missing link if you will between dinosaurs and birds. For quite some time it has been surmised that birds evolved from dinosaurs but every now and then paleontologists come across feathered findings which hint that may or may not be the case. One such discovery was found in a remote and desolate part of China where the fossil of ...Read the entire review

In 10 Words or Less
Learn about cooking in a clear, interesting way

Reviewer's Bias*
Loves: Food Network
Likes: Public Television
Dislikes: Boston
Hates: Commercials on DVD

The Show
I'm a big fan of Food Network, particularly shows like "Good Eats," "Iron Chef" and "Unwrapped." I'm just not a big fan of straight-up cooking shows, with a chef behind a counter, whipping up a couple of recipes, ingredient by ingredient. As such, I don't watch any PBS cooking shows (with the exception of Ming Tsai.) So, despite my wife being something of a PBS cooking show addict, I've never watched an episode of "America's Test Kitchen."

My bad.

Read the entire review

]]> DVD Video https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/review/33420 Fri, 30 May 2008 17:50:39 UTC Rent It

"Twisted: A Balloonamentary" has earned a handful of fans in the form of critics who caught it during its festival run. Having missed it then and only catching up with it now on DVD, I'm baffled: what's the fuss? As an entry in the "quirky subculture" niche of documentaries, "Twisted" is too lightweight and ultimately too boring to charm us the way it wants.

The first problem's right there in the subtitle. "Balloonamentary." Rookie filmmakers Sara Taskler and Naomi Greenfield strive for clever, but all they deliver is annoying wordplay.

The opening's even worse. The movie tosses us four - four! - separate introductions to itself, starting with man-on-the-street footage of ordinary folks struggling with making balloon animals; then showcasing a bit of Twist and Shout, an annual ballooning convention; then a two-minute "comedy" piece of animation detailing the history of balloon twisting, n...Read the entire review

]]> DVD Video https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/review/33144 Tue, 06 May 2008 21:58:26 UTC Recommended

The scientific quest to understand, utilize, and conquer cold itself is the subject of the two-part "Nova" special "Absolute Zero." The documentary, which premiered in January 2008 on PBS, quickly takes us through the history of the science of cold, ultimately focusing on the challenges of creating the lowest possible temperature: -270 degrees Celsius; 0 degrees Kelvin; absolute zero.

The first part, "The Conquest of Cold," offers a primer on science and temperature. It poses a simple question, one you may have never considered before: what is cold? Sure, we know what it is, in a sense, but on a scientific level, what is it? What causes it? Reenactments take us back to the 17th century, when scientists wondered if cold was an element - after all, if water expands when it turns to ice, perhaps "cold" gets in between the molecules, taking up extra room. Studies obviously proved otherwise, but that...Read the entire review

]]> DVD Video https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/review/33083 Thu, 01 May 2008 12:02:11 UTC Recommended

WGBH Boston Video has released Astrospies, a fascinating look at the United States' and the Soviet Union's ultra-secret military space reconnaissance and warfare programs (MOL and Almaz, respectively) in the 1960s. Originally broadcast this past February on Nova, Astrospies' intriguing look at the Cold War space race to get manned orbital spy stations clicking away with their cameras at military targets features interviews with several MOL astronauts (speaking for the first time on camera), as well as previously classified film footage of the astronauts training for their missions, vintage military animation, newsreel footage and fun retro graphics to reveal this heretofore covert page in space race history.

Astrospies begins in 1960 with t...Read the entire review

]]> DVD Video https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/review/33095 Thu, 01 May 2008 12:02:11 UTC Recommended

WGBH Boston Video has released another engrossing Nova documentary, Secrets of the Parthenon, that looks at not only the 30-year (with at least 10 more to go) restoration of the Parthenon, but also the secrets behind how the temple was built and the absolutely astounding craftsmanship as well as visual trickery that went into building what is regarded as the very symbol of the ideals of Western civilization. Part detective story into the methods used by ancient builders to achieve this marvel of architecture and sculpture, and part This Old Temple, where we see the current laborious, painstaking restoration process, Secrets of the Parthenon is a fascinating exploration of what seems like - then and now - and almost impossible task marrying science, beauty and art.

Read the entire review

]]> DVD Video https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/review/32609 Mon, 10 Mar 2008 23:04:22 UTC Recommended

Reviewed by Glenn Erickson

Missing in MiG Alley is a 2007 episode of PBS television's NOVA series, produced by WGBH Boston. The hour-long program concentrates on the 30 or so Sabre Jet pilots that went missing in action over fifty years ago, in the United Nations' police action that later came to be known as the Korean War.

The handsomely assembled show begins with a historical setup for the Korean War, leading quickly to the dramatic standoff at the Yalu River, the border between North Korea and Communist China. On one side stood South Korea, the United States and its allies, and on the other the North Koreans, the Red Chinese and their silent partners the Soviets. The Americans began with an easy advantage because they dominated the skies and could bomb North Korea unopposed. Then the Soviets provided the Red Chinese with their formidable new MiG-15 fight...Read the entire review

]]> DVD Video https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/review/32347 Thu, 14 Feb 2008 20:25:28 UTC Highly Recommended

A totally engrossing short documentary about the dawn of the Space Age, Sputnik Declassified is a 56-minute, 16:9 enhanced episode of PBS's Nova, first broadcast in 2007. Despite its title (and imaginative, Russian-flavored DVD cover art), the show doesn't actually focus on the Soviet space program. Rather, it reexamines the Eisenhower Administration's goals and policies toward space exploration and its defense applications, and the competition not only between the United States and the Soviet Union to be the first to get a satellite into orbit, but also between two separate and competing U.S. government agencies.

The documentary first is a reminder of the enormous uproar that followed Sputnik's launch on October 4, 1957. Many Americans (and some of her weste...Read the entire review

]]> DVD Video https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/review/32332 Tue, 12 Feb 2008 22:43:47 UTC Rent It

Actual marathon runners are going to hate Marathon Challenge, but it isn't intended for them. It's for couch potatoes who'd like to be reassured they could "run" (i.e., complete, even if walking) a marathon without actually having to do so. The question addressed is this: can an elite team of coaches and sports physicians turn thirteen ordinary couch potatoes into marathon runners in nine months?

The answer is going to turn on how the term "marathon runner" is defined. NOVA's framing of the answer is one of the two things that'll make actual marathon runners dislike this documentary. This will be addressed below, but for now consider the other likely sore point for runners: these couch potatoes aren't going to run just any marathon; they're running the Boston Marathon. As most every runner knows, this is the preeminent marathon. To enter the Boston Marathon, most runners must post a qu...Read the entire review

]]> DVD Video https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/review/32085 Mon, 21 Jan 2008 20:42:35 UTC Recommended

WGBH Boston Video and Granada International have released Northanger Abbey, the latest Jane Austen adaptation that premiered this past spring on Britain's ITV Channel. Streamlined to a sprightly 86 minutes, this enjoyable little romp make take liberties with Austen's affectionate parody of Gothic novels, but it's fairly faithful to the spirit of her novel, providing a diverting lark that fans of Austen - provided they're not purist sticklers - should find entertaining.

Catherine Moreland (Felicity Jones), a 17-year-old beauty-in-waiting from rural Fullerton, is given an invitation by her family friends, Mr. and Mrs. Allen (Desmond Barritt and Sylvestra Le Touzel), to join them in Bath, England, a spa city of culture, entertainment, and high society. The naive ...Read the entire review

]]> DVD Video https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/review/31961 Thu, 10 Jan 2008 22:08:28 UTC Rent It

Back in pre-cable days (you know; when dinosaurs ruled the Earth?), about the only place you could view a variety of documentaries on a regular basis was on the Public Broadcasting Service. And certainly one of the most awarded series on that network was and is Nova, which helped popularized the soft "popular science" approach to a variety of hard science topics. But with the advent of cable, networks like A&E, The History Channel and The Discovery Channel, with their boisterous, flashy, and highly entertaining excursions into popular science and history documentaries, started to regularly clean snooty PBS's clock in the ratings (not exactly a hard thing to do, considering even marginal programming like local farm reports routinely beat local PBS affiliates).

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]]> DVD Video https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/review/31944 Tue, 08 Jan 2008 23:50:51 UTC Rent It

WGBH Boston Video has released Between the Lions: Season 1, a 5-disc, 30-episode compilation of the Public Broadcasting series that focuses on teaching young children to read. Through the use of puppetry, CGI and traditional animation, and live-action filmed segments, Between the Lions: Season 1 strives for a humorous, fun approach to English studies, keeping the visuals constantly moving to attract little viewers.

Having attended elementary school during the 1970s, when teachers suddenly saw a way to get an hour's worth of peace and quiet away from their unruly herd by turning on the TV in class ("You mean we get to watch TV...at school?") to PBS' Sesame Street and The Electric Company, I would imagine Between the Lion...Read the entire review

]]> DVD Video https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/review/31844 Thu, 27 Dec 2007 17:44:22 UTC Recommended

The Movie:
British crime fiction and its resultant film and television adaptations are peppered with spunky female detectives, from the Agatha Christie stalwarts Miss Marple and Tuppence to more recent sleuths like P.D. James' Cordelia Gray, the heroine of the four episode series (seen in the U.S. on PBS' Mystery), An Unsuitable Job for a Woman. While James' characters tend to be a bit more literary than Christie's, full of inner torments and psychological traumas, her mysteries are no less convoluted and multi-layered. Unfortunately for this series, only the characters and basic premise are lifted from James, and the conceit of an inexperienced, emotionally shut-down young woman is about the only thing readers of James' Gray pieces are going to recognize from the show.

Series One (the first two episodes) sets up the premise of Cordelia inheriting a decrepit detective agency...Read the entire review

]]> DVD Video https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/review/31816 Mon, 24 Dec 2007 14:56:17 UTC Rent It

The Movie:
The PBS series NOVA consistently finds interesting angles from which to explore various subjects. The Secrets of the Samurai Sword, while perhaps not the most stellar effort NOVA has ever put forth, contains some interesting history surrounding the Japanese fighting force while more narrowly focusing on the actual metallurgy and smelting techniques used to craft these ancient weapons.

Presented with an engaging visual style that draws on such Japanese arts as silkscreening, The Secrets of the Samurai Sword gives a brief overview of the development of Samurai culture in Japan before exploring in actual microscopic detail various blades used by Samurai warriors. Slow motion imagery captures the alarming destructive capabilities of these swords, as they effortlessly slice through everything from bamboo stalks to entire bales of hay.

While some of this episode borde...Read the entire review

]]> DVD Video https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/review/31587 Tue, 04 Dec 2007 00:10:26 UTC Recommended

In the 1990s, the U.S. military began reviewing the service records of Japanese-Americans who fought during World War II, many of whom were overlooked for recognition during active duty. Even the legendary 442nd Regimental Combat Team, which became the most decorated unit in American military history*, was found to be in dire need of a medal "upgrade," for lack of a better term. Finally, in June 2000, twenty-one recipients of the Distinguished Service Cross, seven of them still living, were awarded the Medal of Honor, a belated but much deserved bit of recognition for their outstanding service to the nation.

One of these veterans was Ted T. Tanouye, a Technical Sergeant who led his platoon through an agonizing battle on a hill near Molino A Ventoabbto, Italy, in 1944. The official Medal of Honor citation reads like an outline for an action movie extravaganza, with Tanouye shaking off injuries fr...Read the entire review

]]> DVD Video https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/review/30460 Sat, 15 Sep 2007 06:06:15 UTC Recommended

The Movie:
Fans of PBS' Mystery have been spoiled by excellent British imports for decades, notably the brilliant David Suchet Poirot. Jericho (the "of Scotland Yard" was evidently added as an afterthought to keep it from being confused with CBS' nuclear holocaust drama) is a relatively recent visitor to U.S. shores, but it comes with an impressive pedigree, topped by Tony-winner (for his song and dance role in "Me and My Girl") Robert Lindsay's outstanding performance as the emotionally damaged title character, an Inspector at Scotland Yard in the late 1950s.

The four two-part episodes comprising the series' first two seasons are compelling, relying as much on character and character development as they do on the more mundane machinations of mystery plotting that the British do so well. Each mystery begins with a series of quick cut, seemingly disparate scenes (somew...Read the entire review

]]> DVD Video https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/review/29930 Tue, 21 Aug 2007 01:55:40 UTC Highly Recommended

Note: this DVD is distributed by WGBH, not Koch.

The Movie:
For those of us raised in the Judeo-Christian tradition with its emphasis on sin, vengeance, imperfection and other minor tribulations, the world of Buddhism can seem like an extended sigh of relief, an oasis of beauty and tranquility. In this world our inner selves are perfect, God is not out to get us if we stray from the straight and narrow, plus there's all that cool architecture and music as bonuses.

Seriously, though, the Buddhist world has long held a fascination for Western minds and spirits due in no small part to its largely diametrically opposed views to much of what the Western world holds near and dear. This elegant trilogy of documentaries serves as both an instruction manual, replete with well thought out and concise summaries of major concepts, as well as an incredible spiritual travelogue to Buddhist la...Read the entire review

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