What Dragnet was to Los Angeles, and Naked City was to New York, that’s what M Squad was to Chicago. The hard-boiled cop show starred Lee Marvin, in his first major leading role, as Lt. Frank Ballinger of the so-called M Squad. In Ballinger’s words, M Squad “is a special detail of the Chicago Police; […]
Tag: Drama
TELEVISION: My Own Worst Enemy – Jekyll & Hyde & The Spying Game!
Call it a hunch, but I suspect that NBC’s My Own Worst Enemy [Mondays, 10/9C] will be greeted by a lot of critics with cries of “It’s silly,” and “What the heck was that?” – which is kind of a shame. The series, which stars Christian Slater as super-spy/sociopath Edward Albright and nice guy husband/father/efficiency […]
DVD REVIEW: Walt Disney’s Sleeping Beauty: 50 the Anniversary Platinum Edition – The Pinnacle of Disney’s Hand Animated Achievement!
Although the Sleeping Beauty fairytale has been around for much longer, Walt Disney’s Sleeping Beauty was inspired by the Pytor Ilyich Tchaikovsky ballet – some of Tchaikovsky’s music is even quoted in the score. Sleeping Beauty is remarkable for a number of reasons: it was the first Disney film to be done in an angular, […]
TELEVISION: Ghost Whisperer: Departures and Arrivals!
In the season premiere for Ghost Whisperer [CBS, Fridays, 9/8C], Firestarter, Melinda [Jennifer Love Hewitt] has to say farewell to a friend, while helping a sceptical psychologist learn to deal with being able to hear ghosts. It’s an entertaining episode of a series that never quite achieves greatness, but is always entertaining. When Jim [David […]
TELEVISION: Heroes Returns With a Bang!
Tim Kring and his creative team on Heroes [Mondays, 8/7C] have heard their show’s fans. Heroes returns with one helluva bang, giving us the answer to last season’s cliffhanger – who shot Nathan Petrelli [Adrian Pasdar] – inside of the first ninety seconds of the season three premiere. The premiere, The Second Coming/The Butterfly Effect, […]
TELEVISION: A&E’s The Cleaner Plumbs The Dark Side To Good Effect
A&E’s The Cleaner [Tuesdays, 10/9C] minisite describes this new series as being inspired by the true story of a real-life “extreme interventionist,” stars Benjamin Bratt as William “The Cleaner” Banks, who, after hitting rock-bottom from his own addictions after the birth of his daughter, strikes a tentative deal with God. Now along with his unconventional […]
Redbelt: David Mamet’s Martial Arts Film Stings Like a Butterfly, Floats Like a Bee!
David Mamet has studied Brazilian Jiu-jitsu for several years and, with Redbelt, he brings this side of his life to silver screen in a story that features his usual briskly vulgar language and crosses, double-crosses and scams – only in the staging of a martial arts movie. The protagonist, Mike Terry [Chiwetal Ejiofor], is an […]
Battlestar Galactica: The Ties That Bind – The Next Day
Civil unrest; civil war; a potential for mutiny and character death – this week’s Battlestar Galactica episode, The Ties That Bind, is picking up the pace. Outside of Cavil’s response to last week’s little fracas with the Centurions, did anyone see any of this happening? Spoilers follow.
Stop-Loss: Character Drama Makes Point About Military Legal Loophole!
It’s been awhile since Kimberly Peirce directed a feature film [that would be her first, 1999’s Boys don’t Cry], but she’s back with another character driven drama that is important for more than just its characters – Stop-Loss.