Early Edition - The First Season (1996) Review

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(More customer reviews)Early Edition was one of the most interesting and entertaining hours on television during its run and it's nice to see this fabulous show finally get released. The characters were likable, and all too human at times, making them even more likable. Kyle Chandler proved the perfect choice as a regular guy with foibles who at first tries to cash in like any of us would on his good fortune, then realizes the great responsibility which has been laid at his door, quite literally.
Gary Hobson (Kyle Chandler) has been kicked out by his wife and forced to find a hotel. A yellow cat accompanies a newspaper which Gary eventually discovers is quite special. It is tomorrow's news today, and day after day it is delivered to Gary's door. He reacts as most of us would at first but his good nature finally takes over and he realizes there is a reason he's been chosen to receive the paper.
What followed each week was fabulous. One week it was humorous and the next heartbreaking. Shanesia Williams was terrific as his blind pal Marissa, who tried to keep him grounded and lead him towards the right path when the direction seemed unclear. Fisher Stevens was perfectly cast as his pal Chuck, who wanted to take advantage of Gary's windfall but often ended up helping him instead because deep down he was a good guy. It was sort of like Rockford and Angel, just less pronounced. At least in season one.
What helped to make the show special was the Chicago atmosphere and some tightly written shows about delicate choices made from the heart, some of which had grave consequences. If you can't do both, do you stop a plane from crashing and taking untold lives, or attempt to save one young girl? If you fall in love with someone you've saved, and feel that joy of finally finding someone, what do you do if you discover she's destined to reunite with someone from her past? And what do you do when people begin to think it's odd you should show up at so many disasters and such at just the right moment to save someone?
The show's characters and their interactions had a very real feel and each show had its share of fine moments. Often mixed with humor, but sometimes quite poignant in the end, each week was special. One touching episode had Gary debating over whether not to save one life, because it would give a heart for a transplant which would save a young girl. There was always a balance, however, and the show could be touching but never became maudlin. And it could often find quirky humor within some of the dilemmas.
Season one episodes include: Pilot -- The Choice -- Baby -- The Paper -- Thief Swipes Mayor's Dog -- Hoop Dreams -- After Midnight -- Gun -- His Girl Thursday --The Wrong Man -- Christmas -- Frostbit -- Mob Wife -- The Wall, Part I, -- The Wall, Part II -- Bat Masterson -- The Jury -- Psychic -- The Cat -- Phantom at the Opera -- Faith -- Dad -- Love is Blind
Amid all the questionable releases of television shows undeserving, Early Edition truly stands out as something of quality. Gary and his friends, and that mysterious yellow cat, were welcome visitors each week and this is a fantastic release for the show's many fans.

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This is an hour-long drama about Chicago native Gary Hobson who becomes a reluctant hero when his morning newspaper reports tomorrow’s headlines. Commodities trader Gary Hobson (Kyle Chandler) is losing it: his job, his home and his brilliant attorney wife. He thinks he may even be losing his mind when tomorrow’s newspaper mysteriously arrives today – giving him a disconcerting look into the future. What will he do with tomorrow’s news? While his best friend Chuck (Fisher Stevens) sees the newspaper as a ticket to personal gain, co-worker Marissa (Shanesia Davis) convinces Gary that the "early edition" should be used to better peoples’ lives. So each day Gary begins anew the struggle to make sense of a world turned upside-down by the changing course of events that come from reading the "early edition."

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Shattered Glass Review

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(More customer reviews)This is a superb directorial debut by Billy Ray, who also wrote the script for this engrossing film. It tells the true story of how one journalist, Stephen Glass (Hayden Christiansen), a star journalist for the self-styled, in-flight magazine for Air Force One, "The New Republic", bamboozled his editors for years with bogus stories. This was to have a devastating impact on a magazine that was well-respected in the political community.
The film is a riveting study of a pathological liar who had the need to be the center of attention. For years, Stephen Glass had regaled his colleagues with journalistic feats, only to have them eventually discover that they were mere mumbo jumbo, as few of them had little more than a grain of truth to them. Stephen Glass is portrayed as a slightly obnoxious, self-deprecating character, who binds his colleagues to him through his smarmy, somewhat ingratiating. personality.
Michael Kelly (Hank Azaria) is the first editor of "The New Republic" with whom Stephen Glass worked. When Kelly finds something questionable in one of the stories submitted by Glass, Stephen is able to explain it away, and the incident is glossed over. When Kelly is fired by the publisher, Chuck Lane (Peter Sarsgaard) takes over under difficult circumstances, as the staff is loyal to Kelly and resentful of Lane. Still, Lane perseveres, occasionally crossing swords with Stephen Glass.
All comes to a head when a reporter from another publication questions the veracity of one of Stephen's stories. An inside investigation by an anguished and angry Chuck Lane clearly shows that Stephen's story is not fact based but, rather, an elaborate deceit, false from beginning to end. Stephen's journalistic house of cards comes tumbling down around him, rocking the integrity of The New Republic. Chuck Lane is placed in the difficult position of exposing the full breadth of Stephen's journalistic perfidy, which ended up being widespread.
The cast of the film is excellent overall, though I did find that Hayden Christiansen's portrayal of Stephen Glass paints him as too obvious a liar. I found it a tad difficult to believe that his colleagues gave him as much credence as they did. Chloe Sevigny contributes a fine performance as fellow journalist, Caitlin Avey, who was one of Stephen's bamboozled friends.
Hank Azaria gives a fine portrayal of popular editor Michael Kelly, which shows that he can handle serious dramatic roles as adeptly as he handles comedic ones. The stand out performance, however, is that of Peter Sarsgaard, whose understated, poignant portrayal of Kelly's replacement, the beleaguered, unpopular Chuck Lane, is sensitive yet very powerful and complex.
The DVD has first class audio and visuals, as well as an excellent audio commentary by both the director and Chuck Lane. It also has a must see 60 Minutes interview with Stephen Glass, which took place about five years after the events in the film. It is well worth seeing.
All in all, this is an outstanding film that will keep the viewer riveted to the screen. It is one that is well worth having in one's personal film collection. Bravo!

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SHATTERED GLASS - DVD Movie

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Something the Lord Made (2004) Review

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(More customer reviews)Alan Rickman and Mos Def give superb performances in this wonderfully-written film about the triumph of intelligence and creativity over the effects of racial prejudice.
"Something The Lord Made" is the real-life story of Dr. Alfred Blalock and technician (later Dr.) Vivian Thomas, both of whom pioneered open-heart surgery in America in the mid-twentieth century.
Rickman, as Blalock, gives a flawless, charismatic portrayal of an egotistical surgeon who gains nobility of spirit while he defies (and yet is simultaneously confined by) the customs of his society. Rickman's performance is all the more impressive because he is British, and Blalock was an American from the south; nevertheless, Rickman's southern accent is natural and effortless.
Rickman brings likability and humanity to what could otherwise be an unsympathetic character; and this core humanity gives "Something The Lord Made" a depth not often seen in tales of bigotry within American society. Too often, tales of this sort delineate the bad guys from the good guys in an almost cartoonish fashion, but Rickman's Blalock is both good and bad, reflecting more accurately the reality of the times in which both characters lived.
Mos Def gives a subtle, moving and sympathetic performance as Vivian Thomas, a gifted man who is caught in the trap of prejudice and the expectations of an unenlighted society. The film clearly demonstrates that Thomas is the intellectual peer of Blalock; it is society and circumstance that for years robs Thomas of the practical opportunity to become Blalock's actual peer in terms of status. Def gives us the portrait of a man who chooses patience over reaction; through him, we feel outrage at the denial of the respect due Thomas, time and again.
The writing in this film is low-key and highly effective. Because American society has in some ways changed since the mid-twentieth century setting of this film, younger viewers may not understand the actions and choices made by Blalock and Thomas, both within this film and within real life. Nevertheless, "Something The Lord Made" gives an extremely uplifting and surprisingly accurate portrayal of life as it really existed in those times, and should be appreciated both as an historical and enlightening film.

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(Drama) Something the Lord Made tells the emotional true story of two men who defied the rules of their time to launch a medical revolution, set against the backdrop of the Jim Crow south. Working in 1940s Baltimore on an unprecedented technique for performing heart surgery on "blue babies," Dr. Alfred Blalock (Alan Rickman) and lab technician Vivien Thomas (Mos Def) form an impressive team. As Blalock and Thomas invent a new field of medicine, saving thousands of lives in the process, social pressures threaten to undermine their collaboration and tear their friendship apart.DVD Features:Audio Commentary:Audio commentary with director Joseph Sargent, writer Peter Silverman, executive directors Eric Hetzel and Joseph W. Cort Featurette Making History Slide Show FeaturetteOther:Making History Slide Show

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