Yet another faux found-footage flick, “Vlog” chronicles the events in the weeks leading up to the 2008 murder of the cute, busty and sexually promiscuous webcam addict and vlogger Brooke Marks (played by Brooke Marks; my quick research reveals she’s a real-life, NSFW web model who, it should be noted, is very much alive). Roughly […]
DVD reviews
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The Trip
Condensed from the recent, six-episode BBC series of the same name, the improv comedy casts Steve Coogan (“The Other Guys”) and Rob Brydon (“Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels”) as themselves, more or less. Steve’s tasked with taking a road trip to write about some fine dining spots along the English countryside, and because he’s […]
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How to Make It in America: The Complete First Season
That’s what the show’s about ostensibly, but really, it’s a look at how young New Yorkers live and love: sorta half-assed on both counts. Sad-sack Ben (Bryan Greenberg, “Friends with Benefits”) and street-smart Cam (Victor Rasuk, “Stop-Loss”) are two best buds seeking the next big thing after a venture in skateboard decks failed to take […]
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Conan O’Brien Can’t Stop
Things did not go according to plan. Ratings tanked for both Leno and O’Brien. After less than eight months. NBC returned Leno to the time slot, effectively giving O’Brien the boot. The brouhaha sparked a jaw-dropping level of outrage as TV viewers across the country took sides. If only wars prompted as much public engagement. […]
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The Hour
1. It’s about journalism, my chosen profession.2. It’s also an espionage thriller, a favorite genre.3. It’s set in the 1960s, visually the best decade in history.4. Perhaps most of all, it’s an hour-long, limited series on the BBC, who’ve rocked my world in the past year with “Sherlock,” “Luther” and “Zen,” all of which blew […]
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The Pee-wee Herman Show on Broadway
“On Broadway” is a mix of that and the Saturday-morning classic “Pee-wee’s Playhouse,” staged on a near-exact re-creation of that series whacked-out set. Many characters return, both human (Miss Yvonne, The King of Cartoons) and not (Magic Screen, Globey). So do many of the elements, from a “Penny” claymation cartoon to the infamous “Lunchroom Manners” […]
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Shaft: The TV Movie Collection / The Man from U.N.C.L.E.: 8-Movie Collection
In other words, he’s still the black private dick, just no longer the sex machine to all the chicks. Still, in making the jump from the big screen to the boob tube for a short-lived series in 1973, Roundtree stayed put, and that has to count for something. It does, even if the show is […]
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The Phantom of Hollywood
Witness Brian De Palma’s cult classic “Phantom of the Paradise,” the ’80s straight-to-VHS slasher “Phantom of the Mall” and the somewhat obscure “The Phantom of Hollywood,” a 1974 CBS movie of the week now brought back to public consciousness via Warner Archive. Without me telling you, you can guess its basic story points: The fictional […]
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Black Zoo
But Michael’s “children” are in danger — or is that endangered? — when greedy, swingin’ businessman Jerry Stengel (Jerome Cowan, “The Maltese Falcon”) keen on visiting a particular “striptease parlor” wants to take the land on which the zoo sits so he can rezone it as a residential district. Michael refuses to sign the contract, so […]
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Police Story: Season One
Shout! Factory has released the first season — all 22 episodes of it — on a six-disc set. It was worth the wait. Now I just pray the remainder will follow. “Police Story” makes for terse drama. As Wambaugh states on the bonus interview with him, the series is not about the cop on the […]