Black History Collection: Soul Of The Church (Infinity Entertainment)
In the mid-’60s, some NBC affiliates offered a Sunday morning celebration of music and spirit called TV Gospel Time. Filmed in Chicago, the show featured the kings and queens of black gospel at the time, giving valuable air time to such icons as Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Ernestine Washington, the Blind Boys of Mississippi and James Cleveland, as well as community church choirs from around the Midwest. Unfortunately for gospel fans and scholars, episodes of this show were fairly hard to come by, usually found only on bootleg videocasettes or what clips were available on YouTube.
While Infinity Entertainment have saddled this program with a completely different name for its first legitimate DVD release, all thanks and praise must be sent their way for finally giving these programs a chance at reaching a wider audience. The unfettered performances found on this two-disc set are positively soul-stirring, simply because they feature no overdubs. So, every flubbed note, off beat clap and rough patch are left out in the open. But the spirit they put behind every note – even the ones that are wrong – puts the sanitized sound of contemporary Christian music to withering shame.
Blackadder: The Ultimate Edition (Remastered)
If you are only familiar with Rowan Atkinson through his fine physical comedy as the long-running character Mr. Bean or his appearances in films like Four Weddings & A Funeral and Scooby Doo, you are missing out on one of the great comedic talents from the UK. He was a proto-Jon Stewart in the early ’80s with the parody newscast Not The Nine O’Clock News, and through his work in both The Thin Blue Line and Black Adder took the character of the put upon authority figure who botches every keen plot he devises out of John Cleese’s hands and improved upon it before passing it off to Ricky Gervais.
This six-disc set compiles all of Atkinson’s appearances as the title character, which took him through four complete series and a few added specials from 1983 – 1989. The series, which puts Atkinson in the title role through four important historical periods of British history (the reigns of The Tudors and Queens Elizabeth and Victoria, as well as the first World War), and in each, the mores and practices of the time are sent up with loving detail thanks to the shows fine writers: Atkinson, Richard Curtis (who went on to write Four Weddings) and Ben Elton (The Young Ones, Alfresco). Continue reading
10 Things I Hate About You – 10th Anniversary Edition
10 Things I Hate About You, which helped launch the careers of stars Heath Ledger and Julia Stiles, is a comedy for those of us who grew up in the late 90’s. Continue reading
ER: The Complete Twelfth Season
ER continues with its well written medical drama and adult drama situations in Season 12. Continue reading
RiffTrax Live!: Plan 9 From Outer Space DVD Review
The first RiffTrax Live release is a winner. Continue reading
The Sherlock Holmes Collection
Ostensibly, the release of this three-DVD set was timed to coincide with Guy Ritchie’s recent reboot of the Sherlock Holmes story. A perfect marketing decision on A&E’s part. But while this set does provide a healthy reminder of the more traditional depictions of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s most famous creation, there are some other interesting factors that bubble up when going through the five episodes of the series featured here. Continue reading
Fawlty Towers: The Complete Collection (Remastered)
When John Cleese joined forces with the other members of Monty Python, he was the most recognized face in the bunch, having made his name on shows such as The Frost Report, Marty and At Last The 1948 Show. And by the time he parted ways with Python, he was a bona fide star. As you would expect, the BBC were willing to do anything to keep their comic actor bringing in viewers. So in 1975, they gave him free reign to conceive, write, produce and star in a new series. Continue reading
Private Century
Conceived and directed by Jan Sikl, this collection of eight hour-long films follows the major events of Czech history through the prism of everyday citizens. The short documentaries stitches together home movies, still photography and narration compiled from interviews with the surviving members of families featured in the films to create vivid portraits of everyday life in this embattled country from the 1920s to the 1960s.
The films have an auteur’s touch to them. It takes a couple of installments to get into the pace of the films and Sikl’s authorial voice. But once you’re hooked, you will come away enriched and moved by the joys and sorrows of the simple citizens. It’s reminiscent in that sense of Gore Vidal’s first person takes on the huge issues of the day. But capturing the sweep of history in this intimate fashion will leave you deeply impressed as it fleshes out the small details of these often huge sea changes.
(released by Facets)
Nick Swardson: Seriously, Who Farted?/Greg Giraldo: Midlife Vices
There are the superstar comics of the world – Dane Cook, Robin Williams, Jerry Seinfeld. Then there are the ones who have all the respect of the comedy nerds and critics – Patton Oswalt, Eugene Mirman, Aziz Ansari.
Then there are the gaggle in the middle who are able to carve out a decent living on the road and taking bit parts in movies and TV shows, but either don’t have the shtick or the smarts to make it into either of the above categories. Comics like Nick Swardson and Greg Giraldo.
They aren’t terrible comics by any means, particularly Giraldo who has some potent political material and a whole lot of bile, but they are missing some essential something that could really carry them over the top. Swardson especially falls prey to this ingratiating need to please his audience by going for the old college audience stand by material about drinking, drugs and making fun of the elderly.
Giraldo, on the 
other hand, does what most comics take as their fall back, standing superior over his audience and the rest of the world. And he tends to contradict himself as in with his material about racists which is quickly followed by commentary about the Iraqi who threw his shoe at former President Bush, referring to him in blatantly derogatory terms. It throws all the good stuff into stark relief.
(both discs released by Comedy Central)
Three Sheets: Season 4
Three Sheets follows in the footsteps of wide ranging travelogues like Anthony Bourdain’s No Reservations and puts a simple but surprisingly vibrant spin on it. Over the course of four seasons, it follows the charming, catty and amazingly tolerant host Zane Lamprey around the globe as he tries local spirits and beers and meets a bevy of drinking buddies along the way.
This four-disc set carries 18 episodes that sends Lamprey to such far-flung destinations as Namibia, Lithuania, and the island of Lesbos. And, yes, he drinks a lot, taking in all manner of fare including a liquor and ice cream concoction called Buffalo Milk and a green liqueur that takes its name from the African creature called a springbok.
It’s a cute, if overdone, program, that would be near to unwatchable if it wasn’t for the local color featured on it, as well as Lamprey’s surprisingly charm as host. Even as it veers into ludicrously created history lessons and fills every available minute with sound effects and music, it still maintains a keen sense of fun and adventure. At least the kind of adventure that can come after imbibing shot after painful shot of bitter-tasting booze.
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