Bad Girls - The Complete First Season (2005) Review

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(More customer reviews)I'm an American who has been in a BBC programming mood lately. Bad Girls was actually recommended to me by Amazon UK after purchasing a few other series.
I wasn't sure what to expect and went in basically knowing nothing about it, except that it was very popular in the UK and a few of the actresses up for parts in Footballers' Wives were initially looking to get into Bad Girls.
Once I popped in the dvd, I was hooked. In one day, I watched ALL of season one. Yes, it is *that* good! Yes, there are lesbians, but the nice thing is that the programme is MUCH deeper than that, and the viewer can actually gain insight into the characters. Sexuality is not the premise for this show.
If you enter the show with certain preconceived notions, you will be surprised. Everyone has a story and it is not as simple as a shag here or there, as Oz was. This is not nearly as dark as Oz, but well written, nonetheless.
The interviews with the cast are a nice bonus as well.
Now if I could only wait the two weeks for my seasons 2 & 3 of Bad Girls to show up from the UK.
For those who are unaware, there are many US dvd players which can play Region 2 (UK) dvds. While Season 2 and later is not yet released in the US, it is available through Amazon.co.uk and they DO ship to the States!

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BAD GIRLS is a powerful drama series set in the closed world of an English women’s prison, HMP Larkhall.BAD GIRLS has hard-hitting, heart-wrenching stories that get down and dirty with life behind bars, never shying away from the gritty side of life.On the inside they must negotiate their place in the prison’s hierarchy and sometimes make new sexual choices.

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The Complete Monty Python's Flying Circus Collector's Edition Megaset Review

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(More customer reviews)I just couldn't bring myself to give this set 5 stars. I wish it were possible to give it 4 1/2 stars.
First of all, it's true, the episodes are not 100% complete, however, many people, in my opinion, have been over-reacting about the cuts. Actually, the A&E DVD #1 has a sketch in the 2nd episode called 'The Wacky Queen', which was edited out of the show after the first broadcast & was never shown again on TV in the UK or abroad, as far as I know. Seasons 1 & 2 have no cuts, at least none that I spotted when comparing the DVDs to the synopsis in the Monty Python books by Jim Yoakum & Kim "Howard" Johnson. There is a slight edit of one word in the 5th episode of the 3rd season during the 'Summarize Proust Competition' which the BBC made to the episode before broadcast. Broadcasts outside of the UK had the uncensored version of the sketch. Unfortunately, A&E got a censored master. In the 7th episode of the same season during the 'Biggles Dictates a Letter' sketch, there is a slight glitch which can be blamed on slopply mastering on A&E's part. It doesn't detract from the enjoyment of the sketch very much. The episode that appears to be worst hit is the 12th episode of season 3. A&E goofed when they included 'Party Political Broadcast' on the box to this episode. The sketch was edited from the master tape and hasn't been seen since the original broadcast in 1973. This material is very probably lost forever. The very end of this episode, which has a trailer for Dad's Doctors & Dad's Pooves, is also missing from the episode. This was probably sloppy editing on the part of A&E video as the episode does a fade to black with the BBC TV logo then fades up again with the BBC TV logo again and the 'Dad's...' trailer. The person transfering the episode, who probably had no familiarity with Python thought that it wasn't part of the episode or something. A&E should have hired one of the US Python experts like Kim 'Howard' Johnson, Jim Yoakum, or David Morgan to oversee the A&E transfers so these mistakes might have been prevented. As far as I know, the cuts I just mentioned are the only ones that have been made to these DVDs. Not that much, in my opinion. Certainly not enough to bring this set all the way down to one star. Some have also complained that this set didn't include the German episodes 'Monty Python's Fliegender Zirkus'. These episodes were produced for German TV & not for BBC TV. In fact, the 1st one, which was done in German, was never shown on British TV. This set does contain all 45 episodes that were produced for BBC television. A&E has released the 2 German episodes. The first one, in German with English subtitles, is in the set 'Monty Python Live' and the second one, shot in and in English, is in the 'Life of Python' set.
Yes, yes, the quality of the picture and sound is not perfect, but still better than any TV broadcast that I've seen. I suspect that the quality of the shows as broadcast wasn't terribly impressive. BBC Television only started broadcasting in color in 1969 (the year Python started) and it was still new technology to them. The sound is Mono. The BBC didn't go to Stereo until 1988! To do some kind of stereo remaster, one would need access to seperate dialogue, sound effect, and music tracks, which I'm sure don't exist with the Pythons or the BBC. Such a thing did exist for Holy Grail, which is why Columbia was able to do a remastered Stereo soundtrack. Furthermore, each show had a budget of $6000. These shows were done on a shoestring and the BBC probably didn't have state of the art equipment, being a Government funded broadcaster.
I love Monty Python, and these 45 shows changed the face of comedy. There are a few, very few, bits missing.
If you love Python, you should buy it. Some fans have over-reacted way too much about the missing material. If something like the Lumberjack Song, or Parrot sketch, or Cheese Shop, or Nudge Nudge were cut, that would be reason for outrage. Not for the few fairly minor missing bits. Over 24 hours of pure fun.

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Very possibly the most tragic waste of Oxbridge educations ever broadcast. The programme that made all of America sit up and say: what? That put Spam back in the national pantry, launched crossdressing as a national craze, and made Rene Descartes a household name. That dramatically streamlined the high-school geek identification process.

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Black Adder: The Complete Collector's Set Review

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(More customer reviews)I'm a big fan of British comedy and consider Black Adder to be the greatest of them all, and that's saying something. The British have produced some great ones: Benny Hill, Monty Python's Flying Circus, Fawlty Towers, Red Dwarf, Ab Fab - and those are just the most famous titles. There are numerous other great shows out there, yet Black Adder is a cut above them all. It's very witty, hilarious, and expects the viewer to have knowledge of British history.
This set includes just about everything (there are bits and pieces not on the five discs). Let's review all of them.
Black Adder I is set at the end of the 15th Century and is based on the premise that Henry Tudor was a liar, that Richard III was a good King and was succeeded by his nephew, who became Richard IV. The first series is the weakest of the lot, though it is still quite good and contains two of the entire series best shows. The first two episodes (The Foretelling and Born to be King) are funny, but do not contain the side-splitting laughs common to the series. The show really hits its stride in the third episode, The Archbishop, one of the funniest episodes of the entire series. The success continues through the fourth and fifth episodes (The Queen of Spain's Beard and Witchsmeller Pursuivant), though the show dips in the final episode a bit. Brian Blessed is terrific, though can be a bit much at times. Tim McInnerny and Tony Robinson do great jobs, as they would throughout the series.
Black Adder II is set in Elizabethan times. Many would claim it to be the funniest of the four series, and that argument can most definitely be made. I, however, think that each successive series gets better. Every episode in the second series is a winner; every single episode is a stand out. Miranda Richardson is terrific as Queenie and Stephen Fry is smashing as Melchett. I honestly can't pick any favorites the rest of the way through. The second disc also contains Black Adder: The Cavalier Years which is also excellent, though short. It was done for Comic Relief and is set in the last days of Charles I (Stephen Fry was excellent in this role).
Black Adder the Third improves upon its predecessor. Hugh Laurie takes up permanent residence in the cast (he guest starred in the final episode of series 2) and does a brilliant job - better than McInnery did as the dimwitted Percy. Laurie plays the Prince of Wales, George - son of the infamous Mad King George. This Black Adder is no longer a Lord or Prince of the realm like his ancestors, he is now a servant. Once again, each episode is a gem. We also see McInnerny and Fry in guest appearances (Fry shines as the Duke of Wellington in the final episode), as well as Robbie Coltrane (now of Harry Potter fame as Hagrid). This disc also features Black Adder's Christmas Carol. Though funny, it jumps around quite a bit. the twist is that it features the lone good Black Adder. Don't want to give away too much here. It's funny but not as focused as the whole series.
Black Adder Goes Forth is the final entry. It is the most crass of all the series and the darkest. I find it to be the funniest as well. There's a lot more toilet humor and Baldrick, who has gotten progressively stupider as the series has gone on, is hilarious. Tim McInnerny is back, though not as Percy but as Darling. The Darling jokes do get a bit old, but Stephen Fry as Melchett is excellent.
The fifth disc contains Black Adder Back and Forth. This suffers from the same problem as Christmas Carol, it's unfocused and not as sharp as the series shows. It does have its moments, but Black Adder functions best when it remains in one period and established the characters.
Throughout the whole series, Rowan Atkinson is superb. He is the greatest comedic actor in Britain at the moment and hysterical to watch. Each Black Adder is a bit different, beginning with the whimpering Edmund Blackadder in series one to the very sharp and intelligent Edmund of the last series. Edmund gets sharper as the series gets on -and the character get more bitter as well.
These DVDs also have some helpers for those not familiar with the history of the time periods depicted. I would, however, advise those unfamiliar with the periods to do some research into the history of the time so they can get a better understanding of many of the jokes.
All in all, a great package of one of the greatest comedies every produced. Hours of enjoyment can be found here with plenty of replay value.

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One of the best comedy series ever to emerge from England, Black Adder traces the deeply cynical and self-serving lineage of various Edmund Blackadders from the muck of the Middle Ages to the frontline of World War I. In his pre-Bean triumph, British comic actor Rowan Atkinson played all five versions of Edmund, beginning with the villainous and cowardly Duke of Edinburgh, whose scheming mind and awful haircut seem to stand him in good stead to become the next Archbishop of Canterbury--a deadly occupation if ever there was one. Among tales of royal dethronings, Black Death, witch smellers (who root out spell makers with their noses), and ghosts, Edmund is a perennial survivor who never quite gets ahead in multiple episodes. DVD Features:FeaturetteInteractive MenusInterviewsMusic Video

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The Avengers - The Complete Emma Peel Megaset (1966) Review

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(More customer reviews) The immensely popular ABC series called "The Avengers" has long since achieved legendary status since it appeared back in January 1961. Since then there have been 161 episodes, which break into four major sections. We have the early episodes (1-26) with Patrick Macnee as John Steed and Ian Hendry as Dr. Keel. Then the "Cathy Gail" series (27-78) with Honor Blackman as Cathy Gale, the man-tossing, leather-covered intellectual who broke new ground for female characters on television. Even more popular was the black and white series (79-104) with Diana Rigg and Emma Peel (read "M[en] appeal "), which led not unexpectedly to the color series with Rigg (105-129). Then the final section with Linda Thorson as Tara King (129-- in which she co-starred with Rigg-161).
As of this writing, the early episodes in the Gale series and all of the King series are not yet available. However, A&E has just released all of the Rigg entries, both the black and whites and the color, in a wonderful boxed set called "The Avengers: the Complete Emma Peel Mega-Set." And Mega, I suppose, is as good as any adjective to describe the enjoyment value of the contents therein. We have here all the Rigg episodes, including the transition entry in which Tara takes over for Emma, on 16 DVDs, each holding 3 episodes with an occasional 4th as a "bonus."
Those who have never seen them before will want, of course, to watch them in order. Others will want to jump to their favorite episodes, which is pretty easy on DVD. You will notice that the black and whites were less studio-bound and the sets in general more realistic. With the first color episode, the series took a strong science fiction bent; and the sets, as the producers admitted, were more a view of England as the Americans would like to think it is.
You will also have a lot of fun spotting stars-to-be. There is Donald Sutherland, Brian Blessed and Charlotte Rampling in "The Superlative Seven," Peter Bowles in "Dial a Deadly Number" and "Escape in Time," Geoffrey Palmer in "A Surfeit of H2O," and Christopher Lee in "Never, Never Say Die." It was a policy that no actor could appear more than once a season, so Bowles and Lee, for example, would have to wait for the King series to play other characters. In fact, the only characters as such to reappear in the color Rigg series from the black and whites is the bumbling Brodny (Warren Mitchell) who can be found in "Two's a Crowd" and "The See-Through Man" and the evil assistant (Frederick Jaeger) to the Cybernaut-master.
And for more fun, see how many actors from "Are You Being Served?" you can spot? There are three in all.
The most frequent repeat actor seems to be comedian Roy Kinnear, who also has the honor of being in the very last King episode in the role of Bagpipes Happychap. And then we have rotund Patrick Newell who was murdered in the very first Rigg entry, drugged in a color one, and wound up as Mother in the King series.
But all in all, it is the interplay between Macnee and Rigg that really made this program work. Unlike Cathy Gale, who seemed actively to dislike Steed when she was not merely tolerating him, Mrs. Peel had a genuine fondness for him and was not averse to stirring his tea (anticlockwise, as he preferred it). And as for the question of Peel and Steed being lovers, recall that they are fictional characters and have no life off the screen.
The dialogue was light hearted, and you seldom if ever saw blood after a mere trickle in their third episode. You also never saw a policeman, an element that for some reason the producers thought would be a jarring note. (You figure out why; I cannot.)
The best episodes? There is no question that "The House That Jack Built" leads the pack. This is the one in which Emma finds herself in a house designed to drive her mad and Steed appears only at the start and end. The worst? Possibly "Silent Dust." The silliest? That has to be "Epic." The most serious? "Murdersville." So what if the package costs a small fortune? You could purchase them separately, of course; but think of what you would be missing.

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The Chronicles of Narnia - The Silver Chair Review

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(More customer reviews)Years before Walden Media debuted their big-budget version of "The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe," the BBC created their own Narnia Chronicles. Despite some goofy prosthetics and a shoestring budget, this is easily the best of the three movies, with excellent acting, pacing, and even some decent special effects.
The story opens at a trendy school that Eustace Scrubb attends. But a garden shed doorway leads Eustace and his bullied schoolmate Jill to Aslan's country. But after Eustace is almost killed because of Jill, the god-lion Aslan gives girl an assignment and four signs to follow. King Caspian is now an old, dying man with no heir to follow him, because his son was lured away by a strange serpentine temptress long ago.
Jill and Eustace team up with a gloomy Marshwiggle, Puddleglum, who serves as their guide as they go to north Narnia. Along the way they must deal with carnivorous giants, enormous bridges and bad weather. But the enigmatic signs that Aslan gave Jill are hard to follow -- and they soon find that the missing Prince is ensnared in a web of madness and magic.
Don't expect this to be a mere copy of the past two movies -- the Pevensies are nowhere to be seen, and old faves like Caspian, Aslan and Trumpkin only have cameos. Sure, they ride owls and hang out with giants. But this is a grimmer, darker story, with a cataclysmic finale and a tight, sometimes harrowing storyline.
The past two Narnia movies suffered from hokey special effects and some spotty acting. "The Silver Chair" cleans all that up, trimming the special effects edges and focusing on the more majestic sets, costumes and scripting. And for the most part, it's quite a success. Even the flashbacks to the queen's death and Rilian's disappearance are heartrending and quietly effective.
There are a few flaws -- for a paradise, Aslan's country looks pretty scrubby and brown. And the final battle with the Emerald Witch is downright silly, with a giant snake puppet twisting around on the floor. But the special effects are infinitely improved in this one, ranging from convincing giants to some genuinely harrowing moments on a giant bridge.
Lewis had become a bit less hamhanded with the allegory and Christian symbolism by this time. Instead, he gives jabs at anything-goes attitudes and nihilism. Additionally, he creates one of the most intense and outstanding scenes of the entire Chronicles, with the Witch playing elaborate brain games with Rilian and the kids, slowly convincing them that all they know and believe is a lie -- including the sun and the world above ground.
Thwaites and Power both give excellent, understated performances as two kids who bicker constantly, but really care about each other, and Tom Baker (of "Dr Who" fame) is glorious as the perpetually pessimistic Marshwiggle. Barbara Kellerman, alas, is still hamming it up, with lots of over-the-top laughter, screeching, cooing and snarling.
Despite Kellerman and some primitive CGI, "The Silver Chair" is probably the best of the three BBC Narnia movies, with its darker storyline and excellent lead acting.

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Item Name: The Chronicles of Narnia - The Silver Chair; Studio:Homevision

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Get Real (1999) Review

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(More customer reviews)"Get Real" combines a terrific script with superb acting. Steven Carter is one of the best gay teen characters ever written, portrayed touchingly and realistically by Ben Silverstone. He is simultaneously geeky and sexy, awkward and self-assured, yet underneath his fears and self-doubts there is always a ray of self-acceptance and sense of humor about his predicaments that comes shining through.
You will marvel at Steven's courage, empathize with his pain, and just simply fall in love with this complex and totally adorable young man. His love interest, another complex character, is also brilliantly played. Steven's next-door neighbor and (female) best friend is the only character who comes across as somewhat stereotypical (an overweight fag-hag type), yet her performance avoids the pitfalls that the stereotypical characterization could've created.
The quirky humor the director interjects throughout the film will catch you off guard at times - during the scene inside the park men's room, when the soundtrack started playing The Troggs' "Love is All Around", I had to supress an urge to laugh uproariously and at the top of my lungs (I first saw the film in a theater).
"Get Real" is a "must see" for anyone who knows what it feels like to be young, gay & in the closet, and also for straight folk who wish to understand the difficulties GLBT people have to face, even in our contemporary, allegedly "enlightened" world.

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The History Boys (2006) Review

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(More customer reviews)I did the "Oxbridge term" at exactly the same time as "The History Boys," the fall of 1983. I chose instead to accept a scholarship to an American university that I won halfway through the Oxbridge term. I've lived in America ever since, but my first 19 years was in England, and I can relate to this movie.
Some explanations are in order, because some cultural things are hard on American audiences. Someone once famously observed that we're two nations divided by a common language.
"The History Boys" is not set at a boarding school; it's a grammar school, and it's a second-tier grammar school. In the pecking order back then, you'd have had your British public (but actually private) schools, then your grammar schools led (as the movie mentions) by the likes of Manchester Grammar. Then you'd have the grammar schools like the one in the movie and it would, for these boys, have been a heck of an opportunity (if you buy into the whole Oxford & Cambridge thing, which obviously I didn't) and a bit of a reach. They'd be at a disadvantage for some of the reasons given in the movie (fewer opportunities than kids at more high-falutin' schools) and for the reason of simple English snobbery and the class system at the time.
Second, the class represented here is not, as one reviewer suggested, a mythical place where students care, teachers care and debate thrives. This is an actual place, very much how good English schools were, especially in the last year of 'A'-Levels and the Oxbridge term. It's very well-portrayed here. When I came to the USA, where I attended a fine public university, I never recovered from my disappointment that there wasn't the same level of debate and class discussion. Frankly -- and I love this country, but this was my experience -- no class I took in six years at a good university here ever challenged me as the 'A'-Level and Oxbridge classes had. I think maybe Britain's a little like Japan in having very high standards at the end of high school (and corresponding student stress) that then fades in university.
A clarification on the lives the boys go on to lead. They would end up, for the most part, in fine houses (see reviews below). That's the whole point. Attending either Oxford or Cambridge (while there are no guarantees) did pretty much set people for life if they approached it aiming for that. I've seen that from afar in the lives of my contemporaries who went there. That's why the stakes are so high in the story and success so desirable.
And a final clarification on the aspect of the movie one reviewer called "morally suspect." Maybe so, but the culture of sexuality in Britain is different from the culture of sexuality here in the States. Britain legalized gay marriage, after all, more than a year ago, with minimal fuss, and even The Times of London now lists same-sex unions without fanfare along with the heterosexual ones. The whole issue of homosexuality is different, including the assumption over there that sexual orientation is not necessarily consistent for life. And same-sex experimentation is famous in largely male or all-male British schools. So that aspect of the movie ought to be judged as much as possible in the context of the movie and probably not in an American context which -- no offense intended -- seems more inclined to censure and prudishness.
All that said, and picture quality aside, this is an outstanding movie and a great portrayal of 1983 in England, down to the cars and the music. The only thing I remember that's completely missing here is furious political debate. Britain was four years into Margaret Thatcher in 1983, and politics and social clashes were very much on people's minds, including students like these, and Alan Bennett completely omits that.
But that's my only criticism. Richard Griffiths, who is a veteran British actor whose face would be instantly recognisable to any Brit seeing the movie, is wonderful, on a "Goodbye Mr. Chips" level and better than "Dead Poets Society." Indeed, "History Boys" beats "Dead Poets" simply because it's not Hollywood-ized, it's a much more real movie.
It's got great bullseye detail, too, like the church service at the beginning where the robed priest ministers to a congregation of three, which is the state of the Church of England, Britain almost completely lacking American-style religion at this point, a very secular place despite the lack of division between church and state.
Dominic Cooper as Dakin, Samuel Barnett as Posner and Russell Tovey as Rudge stood out for me, but all the boys are great, and all of the types felt very much familiar to my memories.
The movie is often funny, the dialog wonderful, the way the boys are and the classroom scenes perfectly pitched. The essential scene is the one where Griffiths tutors Barnett one-on-one, and it's essential because it tells us exactly why Griffiths' character is a great teacher, which has to be established.
The ending doesn't bother me. This is Alan Bennett: This is about ideas. The ending furthers the ideas.
This is the same playwright who brought us "40 Years On," yet a much different play and a much different view of a much changed Britain -- and that's why Bennett has endured, because he's changed with the culture.
This is a great movie if you're not offended by frank discussion (and ambiguity) about late-teen and adult sexuality, if you're a bit of an Anglophile, and if you're willing to sit back for something that's really a long conversation rather than an action movie. All of which is why it'll have limited success this side of the big pond.

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From award-winning playwright Alan Bennett (The Madness of King George) comes this delightfully witty comedy of eight boisterous-yet-talented schoolboys hoping to gain admittance to England's most prestigious universities. They're aided on their quest by two teachers, a shrewd young upstart and an inspiring old eccentric, whose opposing philosophies challenge the boys to confront the true meaning of education and the relative values of happiness and success.Adapted from the original Tony Award winning play and starring the original Tony Award winning cast, The History Boys is an engaging, thought-provoking, and wickedly funny look at history, the pursuit of knowledge, and the utter randomness of life.

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Skins, Vol. 1 (2009) Review

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(More customer reviews)I've been watching TV for as long as I can remember, and I've never seen a show quite like "Skins".
The program centers around a group of teenage friends living in England. They smoke, they drink, they do drugs, they party, they have sex. They do what teenagers around the world do (or more often, especially with the sex part, merely wish they were doing). Pretty standard fare for most teenage dramas, actually, except that since this is British TV, they don't censor everything; you actually get to see bits of the sex, hear lots of the swearing and see quite a bit of naked flesh.
Nothing like a bit of titilation.
But had the show been nothing but titilation, it wouldn't have kept my interest. From the very first episode, I found myself really drawn into the storylines, and coming to like most of the characters. I started to care about them and their lives.
Consider for example the character of Tony. He seems initially to be just a total wanker, but as the show goes you see that he actually has some layers to him, ones he doesn't know are there.
Or consider Anwar, a reasonably devout Muslim who finds himself torn between faith and friendship due to the fact that his best friend, Maxxie, is gay.
Or consider Cassie, an anorexic girl who is falling rapidly in love with Sid, who happens to be in love with Michelle, who happens to be Tony's girlfriend. Who Tony might be in love with the viewer is welcome to guess, though I'm inclined to suspect it's both Michelle and Sid...
Or consider Jal, the sweet young clarinet player. Or Chris, a wonderful young man with more teeth than brain cells. Or Michelle. Or Maxxie. Or Sid. Any of the characters, all the of characters, are fascinating.
The show isn't without its imperfections, of course. It's a bit exaggerated and unrealistic, but who cares? Most TV is. On the other hand, "Skins" is daring, entertaining, effed-up and wonderfully brilliant! What other show would've given such a "WTF?!" ending to the first series as this one did?
"Skins" isn't for everyone, but I loved it, and can't wait to own it on DVD!
*** UPDATE ***
So amazingly I got the DVDs today, the day before the street date. I won't tell if you won't tell. :) Because of this, I can answer all the questions we've been wondering. Well, most of them, anyhow. I don't know if the music was left intact from the broadcasts cause I never really paid attention.Anyhow, the DVDs are not the episodes as they were broadcast here in the USA. They are not censored for language or nudity, which is a plus for those of me who like to see these sorts of things as they were intended!
There is one thing that was completely cut out from the DVDs however. At the end of the last episode of series one, there was this very odd, very surreal moment where the cast, more or less in character, were singing Cat Stevens' song "Wild World". Due to copyright issues that entire scene is cut. You get the moments right before and right after, but the scene itself is gone. Happily that's what the YouTube is for and if you go there, you can see the last scene as it was meant to be.
Sadly there's no commentary on the DVDs, but you do get the video diaries and ancillary storylines the Brits got, so that's all good. Overall, a package well worth getting your hands on!

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Skins. A brand new British drama follows a group of raucous teenagers who get high, get drunk, get laid and get up for their A levels. They really grab life by the balls and give it a twirl. Tony (Nicholas Hoult, About a Boy) is the best looking boy in town. His sidekick Sid is less successful with the ladies, much less until bonkers anorexic case Cassie turns up. But Sid's in love with Michelle, the school fittie, who goes out with Tony, of course. Then there's sassy musician Jal, party animal Chris, Maxie and best mate Anwar, who manages to combine the pills, the thrills and the spills with his faith, well sort of.

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Shameless: The Complete First Season (2006) Review

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(More customer reviews)Brilliant, "comedy-drama". Because of the differences between British humor and American humor an American audiences will find more drama than comedy. Yes, we do "get" irony; however, it tends to make us smile rather than laugh out loud.
This series contains some of the best, most powerful scripts I've ever seen written for broadcast television. Yet, I expect this very R-rated series to be heavily criticized for coarse language, for themes of sex, scenes of drunkenness, and under-age smoking. Nevertheless, this series is one of the most family-positive series you'll ever see.
Imagine the picture perfect family, the very embodiment of "family values". Then one day somebody in the family snaps and is revealed to be involved in criminal activity, or infidelity, or substance abuse or darker more sinister assaults on the body and mind of other family members. In short, this imaginary picture-perfect family is dysfunctional.
Now, envision the opposite, a family with all the trappings of being dysfunctional. The father is unemployed and alcoholic, the children thieve, smoke and swear. One child has to keep his head shaved because he's so prone to nits, and there is no mother in the home because she's taken the family van and run away. Yet, this family is supportive, loving, caring and more honest than the Brady Bunch ever was.
There are no skeletons in the Gallagher family closet. They are very much a what-you-see-is-what-you-get group. Sometimes funny sometimes surreal and unlikely the goings on in this family are often moving and always entraining. While not promoting "family values" this is a very family positive series (but not for the whole family: R-rated I said). There is good reason why this show is called "Shameless".
One warning for American audiences. The story is set in Manchester, so that people in the story have strong northern accents. If your ear is unused to this or if your exposure to British accents ends at Hugh Grant... there are subtitles available on the DVD.
An excellent show, a sort of a fun-house mirror Waltons. Give it a chance

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Meet the Gallaghers. Mum went AWOL years ago, Dad stayed at home with the six children only to hit the bottle ... and sometimes the kids... Blisteringly funny, offbeat drama following the rollercoaster lives and loves of an anarchic family from Manchester. The real head of the family is big sister Fiona, who looks after Carl, Debbie and baby Liam. She is occasionally helped, more often hindered, by streetwise 'Lip' and the actively gay, but very private, Ian. Welcome to the hectic world of sexual adventures, triumphs, love, scams and a fair bit of crime on a rough Manchester housing estate, where wheel-less cars are the norm and the moving ones are stolen. DVD Features:Biographies:Meet the CastInterviews:An Interview with Creator Paul Abbott

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Russell Peters - Outsourced (2006) Review

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(More customer reviews)My colleagues and I went to see this show live. If you have seen the 45 mins video online that has been circulating for a while, you are going to love this one as well.
This is new material, and very funny. He talks about many ethnic groups, makes fun of them, and knows how to make fun of himself. His accents are impeccable and if you have been exposed to any Asian cultures - you are up for an awesome treat.
I have sent it to already 5 friends (oh yeah, buy the DVD..Support him)

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Outsourced is Russell Peters' major-label debut on CD and DVD which breaks into the US comedy consciousness by finding humor in all cultures. The DVD includes live footage of all of the tracks listed above, two behind-the-scenes featurettes, and audio commentary by Russell Peters.

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Beautiful Thing (1996) Review

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(More customer reviews)There are many 'coming out' and gay-themed movies these days, but none is more heart-breaking -- or heart-warming -- than this one. Glen Berry and Scott Neal are perfect as Jamie and Ste, two troubled working-class London boys coming to terms with their sexuality, each other, and the homophobic world around them. Ste lives with an abusive father and older brother who have made him feel ugly. Jamie and his mum take him in, and the boys bunk together. They discover love to the accompaniment of "You are sixteen, going on seventeen, unprepared for a world of men". The music (a lot of Mama Cass, but also some lovely, bittersweet original stuff for string quartet) is deftly woven into the fabric of the film's story, and is an integral part of its structure. After a fight, Jamie and Ste kiss to Mama Cass singing "You gotta make your own kind of music". The ending is as uplifting and sweet as any on film. The surprising thing is that this wonderful movie was made for British television. I wish more films could be as fresh, touching, and honest as this bright, shining little gem.

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A pair of teenage boys growing up in a working-classneighborhood become aware of their homosexuality. While both werevaguely aware they might be gay, neither had ever acted on theirimpulses. Once they decide that they're attracted to each other, neitheris sure just what to do. Winner of 4 International Film Festival Awards.

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Doc Martin: Series 2 (2005) Review

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(More customer reviews)What makes this British Drama TV series so funny? What's so funny about a surgeon who is mentally and physically indisposed at the sight of blood? Why do you find yourself laughing at the sight of the townsfolk in this serene, beautiful little seaside Cornwall town of Portwenn? It is what happened with most scenes, in all 9 episodes of this 3 DVD series. In almost every scene, I'd lift my eyebrows to the Mrs (we watched together), she'd pick up a corner of her mouth, and we'd both begin laughing.
We thoroughly enjoyed the stories and the quirky British people of this small town. Doc Martin (Martin Clunes) and his stern, grumpy, all-business, rude, and seeming heartless bedside manner, just adds to the hilarity--as he fails to see any of the joy in the village. The medical conditions he is faced to address are often as hilarious as the character that complains of the symptoms. Mix with that a love triangle the Doc in involved in, but fails to acknowledge, and you have a season of some of the best British Comedy/Drama ever produced.
This second season (Doc Martin: Series 2) is even better than the previously released first season.
___For starters, it's 50% longer, 9 50-minute episodes rather than just the 6 in Series One.
___The episodes seem to have several plots woven together, much more complex stories, than in the original set. The action moves quickly and keeps you spellbound every minute. You'll be so happy, that by owning the DVD, you don't have to wait a week for the next episode. Episodes do tend to have a carry-over link.
___And this series, unlike the original set, has SDH subtitles, something we found to be helpful with some of the dialect as well as British terms. Their biscuit is our cookie, tea is a meal, etc.
___Extras include some star cast filmographies.
___I still recommend you watch Series One as well, but it's not completely necessary. But after watching series 2 you will want the earlier set.
After seeing the zany activity in Doc Martin's surgery (GP office), I decided if American doctors had patients as quirky and strangely symptomatic, all of them would give up and turn to plumbing or painting.
This comedy series about a doctor's practice, reminded me of the hugely funny comedy "Pie In The Sky", a British comedy/drama about a detective who really wanted to be a cook. I've reviewed both and recommend both.
Just a few Details:
Episode 1__Doc Martin gets a new receptionist (Katherine Parkinson as Pauline) only better in some ways. He gets in hot water with Aunt Joan (Stephanie Cole), because of her friend Muriel, who's son Danny, reunites with teacher, Louisa (Caroline Catz), whom Doc just recently kissed, a carry-over from Series One. I told you this had some woven plots.
2__Doc gets stuck with childcare for Peter while his mother gets stuck in the hospital. Bert Large (Ian McNeice), handyman, fries fish.
3__Doc has to compete with a herbal/nature remedy seller who is the sis to Mark (town cop) plus help the odd family with multiple problems who strongly object to house calls. Romantic question: Is Bert the REAL father of Al Large, now falling romantically for the new receptionist after being jilted by her sister?
4__Local radio host drinks and Mr. Cooke stinks--really, really stinks. And what's the new town's female bombshell doing with the local cop?
5__Mr. Pratt blames Doc for his wife's death but takes revenge by using pesticides that threaten Aunt Joan's organic farm license. Romance is muddled between cop/bombshell, Al/receptionist, and Doc/Louisa while another local teacher battles obsessive-compulsive disorder.
6___Doc's parents arrive in town to vex Aunt Joan. Doc forgets his manners while dealing with rapid weight gains of a local 50-year-old lady. Doc has to help his rival in the romantic triangle with Louisa. Doc, finally get's his own often used phrase, "Shut Up", told to him.
7__Mark (cop) and Al (his best-man after Doc rudely said "NO") get lost in the woods, Marks get's a snake bite, they get lost, the crazy forester who lived with a giant squirrel (season one) leads Doc toward them, and of course they both get lost too. Just another day of laughs in the forest.
8__Mark has an anatomy problem, his fiancee has her own problem, Doc is involved & making more problems, Danny and Louisa have a problem, the pharmacy neck brace lady has a problem, and Doc muddies the lives of all.
9__Birdwatchers, lunatics, explosives, guns, knives, romance and tourism all tickle the funny bone to an explosive degree.
Some touching moments, but mostly just beautiful scenery and hilarious activity in the life of a doctor in a small town. You will want more. But you'll have to wait for Series 3. That's the only negative I can state for this DVD set. "I want more."

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He’s surly, tactless, self-centered, and uptight--but he’s the only doctor in town.
As a hard-charging London surgeon, Martin Ellingham (Martin Clunes, Men Behaving Badly) didn’t need a bedside manner. His patients were unconscious, so he could be as rude and arrogant as he pleased. All that changes when he develops a crippling fear of blood and is forced to give up surgery. Now a GP in a sleepy, picturesque Cornish fishing village, Doc Martin offends everyone in town, including the one person he wants to impress, beautiful teacher Louisa Glasson (Caroline Catz, Murder in Suburbia). Getting her attention proves even more difficult when Louisa’s old flame returns to the village and becomes his new rival.
Martin Clunes shines in this award-winning comic drama set amid eccentric townsfolk and spectacular scenery. As the doctor says, "It’s good to be loathsome."
DVD FEATURES INCLUDE photo gallery and cast filmographies.

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The Italian Job (1969) Review

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(More customer reviews)There are few genres as enduring in the movie biz as the heist and they don't come any more entertaining than this one. Michael Caine is at his best as a fresh-out-of-jail, small-time crook who decides to pull the job of the century. To achieve this, he sets about finding someone to bankroll the enterprise, in the person of Noel Coward. Coward, a big time syndicate boss is still running his business from jail and after some persuasion, agrees.
Caine then sets about assembling a cast of idiosyncratic no-hopers to carry out his bold plan, among them Benny Hill, an electronics wizard with a fondness for fat women. After much practicing, three teams in Mini Coopers (driven by "chinless wonders") set off for Italy with a bus-full or two of supporters all dressed as soccer fans. The arrival on the scene of the Mafia does little to dampen their enthusiasm and the fun really starts.
The climax of this action/farce is the car chase through the streets, sewers and even the skyline of Turin. Plenty of action, plenty of laughs and all very well paced. If anything, it's probably too short (though I don't mean the ending...) but I guess that just makes you appreciate it that much more. An old favorite which is hard to beat. Know wot I mean, Guv?

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No Description Available.Genre: Feature Film-Action/AdventureRating: GRelease Date: 29-DEC-2004Media Type: DVD

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Shaun the Sheep: Off the Baa Review

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(More customer reviews)Too good to miss! Ageless humor guaranteed to bring cheer. Watch for the eventual availability of all 40 cartoons in the U.S.
Shaun the Sheep, appearing in the thirty minute feature "A Close Shave" appeared in the UK (and other non-U.S. nations) as seven minute Oscar winning cartoons in 2007. "Off the Baa is a collection of eight of these cartoons from the first season (listed below). Shaun is the star of farm and flock in episodes that fascinate adults and children. There are no speaking parts, but the antics stretch reality and lighten any mood using animal and people sounds.
Disney Channel seems to be the only source for Shaun cartoon broadcasts in the United States, except videos from some foreign Youtube-like sites. If you buy any videos, beware of DVD regional coding, making sure it is zero or one for the U.S. Watch for other collections of eight cartoons each - including "Wash Day", "Sheep on the Loose", "Saturday Night Shaun", and "Abracadabra". "Back in the Ba-a-ath" is also available, but I cannot find the number of episodes it includes.
A little searching will reward you with plenty of Aardman Animations videos including Shaun the sheep exercise video, BBC shorts, as well as Wallace and Grommit features, "Cracking Contraptions", full length films, cartoons, advertisements, and over a dozen new characters.. The new "A Matter of Loaf and Death" will begin to be available in June 2009 in the U.S.
Two further recommendations: First, BEWARE of torrent downloads of Shaun the Sheep series. One is a vicious scam. Second, Wikipedia has a rather complete write up on Shaun.Links too.
Off the Baa includes the following eight episodes from the first season:
Off The Baa!
Timmy In A Tizzy
Buzz Off Bees
Things That Go Bump
Mower Mouth
Fleeced
Shaun Shoots The Sheep
Mountains Out Of Molehills
(episodes 1, 4,13, 20, 7, 14, 15, 18 respectively)
Happy Sheeping. Oh, and you may see clips on Amazon.uk

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Shaun of the Dead Review

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(More customer reviews)It is a very hard line to cross in today's cinema to make a film that part comedy and horror film. Normally, when this happens we end up with something like the Chucky series. It began serious, but after seeing the new preview, I know they have given up serious horror and invaded into the world of campy horror. I was afraid at first that this film was going to go into that direction, but then I remembered ... this film wasn't made in America, it was made in Britain where the humor is actually intellectually funny. As I was sitting and enjoying this film from beginning to end, I couldn't help but wonder why America has not been able to master this style of film yet. Why is our comedies still heavily based in the sex humor or bathroom jokes? While there were some in this film, I felt the majority of the humor was logic and intelligence based. "If you listen to the words, you will laugh at the jokes" style of comedy instead of waiting to see who will fall over what first.
With its firm grasp on the comedy aspect, Shaun of the Dead delivers an exceptional grade for its creativity. It takes a lot of brain work to be able to think of a story about zombies where our main characters are oblivious to the fact that anything horrible is happening in the world until the second act. That was actually some of my favorite parts of this film. I was there, sitting in the theater, knowing that it was a zombie film (still, can I call it that?), and nearly missing the entire zombie clues going on in the background. My eyes were focused directly on our star and scene-stealer duo, Shaun and Ed. One of my favorite scenes of this film is when Shaun is going to work after the dead have risen and goes through the motions as if nothing strange is happening while there is chaos and destruction all around. How many of us have gone to work and not even noticed anything-different happening in our daily routine. Sometimes we get so caught up in the motion that we miss any different actions. I couldn't stop laughing.
What also made this film work on every level was the cast. Director Edgar Wright has done a fantastic job of placing the right actors with the right characters. They were each believable in their own part, and I loved every scene with Bill Nighy. He was perfectly cased and you could just tell that he loved being in this film. That is another great aspect of this film. It was a fun film and you could tell that the cast was having fun with their roles and were comfortable in their environment. So many times we watch these style of films and we see miscasting and uncontrolled actors doing anything to ensure that they stay at the top of people's minds. This wasn't happening in this film. I wasn't familiar with many of the actors, so I couldn't play favorites. All I could do was sit back and enjoy everyone and everything.
I would like to end with the comment that this is still a zombie film. It is a love story surrounding a zombie film where the director has chosen to emphasize the love story instead of blowing everything up. I know that sounds strange, but you will get used to it American viewers. I mention that it is still a zombie film because I do not want people going thinking that this is a spoof. While it does pay homage to several of the classic horror films, this film stands on its own two feet. It had blood, it has violence, and it has those infamous scenes of people's heads being blown apart. That is why we see zombie films.
Overall, if you love zombie films and you are a fan of The Office or any Hugh Grant film, than Shaun of the Dead will appeal to you. I don't remember the last time I witnessed such a creative film.
Grade: ***** out of *****

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Shadowlands (1994) Review

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(More customer reviews)"I seem to play men who are sort of imprisoned in themselves," Anthony Hopkins comments in an interview included on this movie's DVD. And although this adequately characterizes a mere fraction of his work, roles like that of butler Stevens in Merchant/Ivory's adaptation of Kazuo Ishiguro's "Remains of the Day," Henry Wilcox in E.M. Forster's "Howards End" (also by Merchant/Ivory) and even Thomas Harris's Hannibal Lecter, illustrate Hopkins's minimalist approach to acting, which makes him so uniquely qualified to play emotionally restrained men, locked up behind the walls erected by convention, trauma or madness. Thus, while bearing little physical resemblance to the real C.S. Lewis, atheist-turned-Christian scholar and bestselling author of the famous "Narnia Chronicles," Hopkins was a natural choice for the role in this movie about Lewis and his wife-to-be, American poet Joy Gresham (Debra Winger).
Albeit subtitled "based on a true story," "Shadowlands" doesn't purport to recount the couple's relationship in its full complexity - that would take much more than a 2 hours, 15 minutes-long film, if it were accomplishable at all. On equally strong intellectual footing, Joy Gresham and "Jack" Lewis were bound to each other not only by a joint interest in literature and because Joy challenged all assumed bases of Lewis's scholarly life, but also by their personal geneses as convert Christians (he coming from atheism, she from Judaism, at least partly influenced by Lewis's writings). Obviously for reasons of dramatic streamlining, director Richard Attenborough and screenwriter William Nicholson - who adapted his play for the big screen after having already scripted the 1985 BBC production featuring Joss Acklund and Claire Bloom - chose to cut down on several facts and persons, such Joy Gresham's second son David (who is not mentioned at all), Lewis's 1954 move from Oxford's Magdalen College to similarly-named Magdalene College at Cambridge (likewise not included), the alcoholism of Lewis's brother Warren ("Warnie") (which is substantially downplayed, as is the abusiveness of Joy's first husband Bill Gresham) and Lewis's complicated friendship with J.R.R. Tolkien (who surprisingly is not at all among the featured Oxford scholars). Similarly, at least according to some accounts Lewis was not quite the bachelor he is shown to be here, possibly having shared more than tenancy of The Kilns (where he and Warren still lived when he met Joy) with Janie King Moore, 25 years his senior and mother of his college roommate Edward "Paddy" Moore, who died in WWI. With regard to Lewis's and Joy Gresham's relationship itself, the movie espouses the view of some biographers that the couple's April 1956 wedding was merely a marriage of convenience designed to allow Joy to stay in England - and that Lewis only fell in love with her after she had been diagnosed with cancer (although she had evidently been taken with him for a considerably longer time) - but here, too, much remains disputed: inevitably so, as this goes to the very heart of their romance; a romance, moreover, growing in an environment not exactly encouraging to the baring of one's soul to outsiders.
Be that all as it may, however, "Shadowlands" is an emotionally and visually stimulating, tremendously powerful production, centering on the recognition that there are only two ways to deal with love: either to shut it out, thus avoiding pain as much as you're foregoing bliss, or to embrace it, thus also allowing for the sorrow it may bring. As a boy, Lewis chose the former: Unable to cope with his mother's death and reconcile it with the idea of a benevolent God, he chose atheism over religion and, later, a scholar's protected, emotionally unchallenging existence over matrimony; this remaining his choice even after having accepted Christianity, now explaining human suffering as "God's megaphone for shouting at a callous world." Yet, all that was called into question when he met Joy who, with her outspoken nature, progressive views, ex-communist background and New York Jewish upbringing was the most unlikely match conceivable for him; and soon made herself unpopular with his Oxford colleagues, e.g. by pointedly rebuking Christopher Riley's (John Wood's) remark that men have intellect where women have souls (which incidentally could well have come from Lewis himself, who had once explained his refusal to marry by noting that then "all the topics of conversation would be used up in a fortnight"). Yet, what had started with a courtesy meeting over tea with a self-professed admirer soon blossomed into a stimulating intellectual exchange and, based thereon, friendship - although Lewis still clung to the idea that there was nothing more to their relationship. Indeed, just *because* Joy was a woman with whom he could have the intellectual exchange he had heretofore only known with men, he could accept her as a friend while keeping her at an emotional distance ... or so he thought. Only the realization that he would soon be losing her forever (at least, according to this movie's interpretation) cut through his armor. Still, although he believed he had now understood that happiness and pain are inextricably linked in love, his faith was again profoundly shaken by her death, giving birth to of his most personal works, "A Grief Observed."
Magnificently framed by its Oxford University background and featuring a tremendous cast, from the two leads to Edward Hardwicke (Warren Lewis), Joseph Mazzello (Douglas Gresham) and top-tier actors even in minor roles (to name but a few, Julian Fellowes, Michael Denison, Peter Howell, Julian Firth and Peter Firth), "Shadowlands" received Oscar nominations for Debra Winger and William Nicholson's screenplay (Anthony Hopkins was only nominated for "The Remains of the Day"), but in a year that also saw strong competition from "Philadelphia," "Age of Innocence," "Short Cuts" etc., ultimately lost out to "Schindler's List" and "The Piano" (Holly Hunter). Nevertheless, this is a powerful testimony to the love between two truly unusual individuals; one of Oxford-s pre-eminent scholars and the woman who was to him, as he wrote in her epitaph, "the whole world ... reflected in a single mind."
Also recommended:
Through the Shadowlands: The Love Story of C. S. Lewis and Joy Davidman
C. S. Lewis Signature Classics: Mere Christianity, The Screwtape Letters, A Grief Observed, The Problem of Pain, Miracles, and The Great Divorce (Boxed Set)
The Chronicles of Narnia
The Inklings
The Company They Keep: C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien as Writers in Community
84 Charing Cross Road
The Remains of the Day (Special Edition)
Howards End - The Merchant Ivory Collection
Terms of Endearment

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This emotionally moving romantic drama was adapted by William Nicholson from his own acclaimed play, based upon the real-life romance (during the 1950s) between the British writer C.S. Lewis and a divorced American poet named Joy Gresham. Best known for writing "The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe", Lewis (Anthony Hopkins) is living comfortably as a respected Oxford don, his academic lifestyle a kind of shell protecting him from the emotional risk of love. Joy Gresham (Debra Winger) arrives at Oxford as an avid admirer of Lewis's writing, and the safety of his collegiate routine is quickly disrupted when Lewis realizes that he's fallen deeply and unexpectedly in love. Their courtship is uniquely engaging; he's shy and uncertain, she's outspoken and bold. But when Joy is diagnosed with cancer, Lewis's Christian faith is put to the test--he cannot fathom why their happiness together would be so drastically challenged. Together, they find a way to accept and honor the time they have shared together, and under the sensitive direction of Richard Attenborough, "Shadowlands" arrives at a conclusion that is both heartbreaking and uplifting at the same time. Hopkins and Winger are equally superb in this absorbing story of personal and spiritual transformation--a story previously filmed for British television in 1985, with Joss Ackland and Claire Bloom. "--Jeff Shannon"

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Hot Fuzz (Widescreen Edition) (2007) Review

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(More customer reviews)We are very nearly through the first half of 2007 and I'm happy to report that HOT FUZZ is easily the funniest movie that I have seen so far this year. I loved Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg's previous film, SHAUN OF THE DEAD, and am delighted to report that this is every bit as funny at that one, if not funnier.
The film concerns a highly decorated London police officer who is so good at his job that he is shunted off to an assignment in the country because he is so good he makes the rest of the force look bad. Sanford would seem to be an impossibly idyllic place, winner several times of the top village in England award. But it is a town that houses mysteries, which our hero Nick Angel gradually uncovers. Most of the film should be predictable, but it is a credit to Wright and Pegg that it isn't. Even the big ending, the week point in most such movies, is a delight. Despite a lot of action and special effects and explosions it is never taken over by them. It remains fresh and surprising to the very end. Although the plot is surprisingly interesting for a comic romp, this would be a fun film without it. The gags are consistently brilliant throughout and every one is executed marvelously. This is a much slicker film than SHAUN OF THE DEAD was, though that wasn't in any way unpolished.
The cast is a large one and they manage to bring the village of Sandford to life in convincing fashion. Pegg is paired with Nick Frost, his costar in SHAUN OF THE DEAD. The cast is littered with well-known actors such as Jim Broadbent, Timothy Dalton, Edward Woodward, Billie Whitelaw, Bill Nighy, Stephen Merchant, and Martin Freeman as well as a rich and varied cast of lesser-known performers. The great thing about this is that the actors really enhance the film. What I mean is that the success of SHAUN OF THE DEAD meant that they could hire a cast of better-known performers. Sometimes this can lead to a decline in the quality of projects (watch Robert Rodriguez's EL MARIACHI and DESPERADO back to back and you'll see how a no name cast can free up a director while a big name cast can inhibit one), but that absolutely didn't happen here.
The film is littered with in jokes and cultural references. There are also a number of references to SHAUN OF THE DEAD, but it isn't important to get any of these to enjoy the movie. There are also, according to Edgar Wright, a couple of nice cameos, though we have to take his word for it since neither is recognizable. The crazed Santa that stabs Angel near the beginning of the film is, says Wright, Peter Jackson, while his ex-girlfriend Jeanine is Cate Blanchett. Again, we have to take his word for it because her entire scene is played with a surgical mask over her face so that all we see are a pair of eyes that do indeed look like they could belong to Cate Blanchett.
As anyone can tell, I loved this movie. I enthusiastically recommend it to anyone.

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