Fringe- Season 2

Fringe- Season 2
Warner Brothers Blu-ray

Since the demise of X-Files, two years before it was finally put out of our misery, networks have been searching for whatever might follow, and capture audiences like it had. Sci-Fi programming has largely failed to reach these vaunted heights though, veering towards silliness ("Eureka"), formulaic ("Battlestar Gallactica," yes, I mean it), or torture porn type crap (pretty much everything else, certainly on the big screen).

The first season of "Fringe" was a revelation. They brought in J.J. Abrams, whose track record is very celebrated, and even mostly deservedly so- come on, "Lost" was a remake of "The Prisoner" for people with no left brain function. The first season, while certainly enjoyable, was mostly groundwork, establishing characters and backstory. Now, for the second season, the show has really found its groove. The actors are comfortable enough to stretch out and have some fun, and the writing is mostly top-notch.

There are quibbles, certainly. Why does Hollywood insist that if their leading female characters are strong and smart they need to tend towards asexuality? Anna Torv as FBI agent Olivia Dunham is almost comically straight-laced, rarely letting her hair down, either literally or figuratively. Also, Joshua Jackson (forever of "Dawson's Creek") plays a supposed genius, but he seems mostly incredibly average.

Those things aside, this is an incredibly entertaining show, in which both the short-term and long-term story and character arcs are particularly strong. Oh, and there's plenty of otherworldly ookiness, the kind Mulder reveled in, and Scully would have refused to believe even as it was impregnating her. There are scary monsters, conspiracies galore, and it walks the fine line between believability and not, and the viewer wins consistently. The crazy scientist father, played by John Noble, is now sympathetic instead of verging on annoying as he could be in the first season.

In the second season of "Fringe" it becomes, simply, one of the best things on television.
The blu-ray transfer, by the way, is spectacular, for one of the few shows for which it might truly be necessary. Don't get me wrong, Blu-ray should make DVD obsolete regardless, but "Fringe" has such a rich palette of scenery and color, the difference in quality is instantly obvious.

White Collar
USA Networks/Fox Blu-ray

For those of you who can't get enough of Soderberg's Oceans movies, here's a great find.

White Collar is a well-written crime-drama, that looks spectacular. Visually it's one of the best shows on television, rivaling Lost for purely superficial elements, although with an urban setting instead of all that Hawaii stuff. This is a very compelling, character-driven hour show. The Oceans movies are an easy comparison because it is shot so well and looks so great. There are also elements of the insider, buddy stuff that are so compelling in those films.

The set-up is easy enough- a very pretty con man is partnered with a straight-laced FBI agent to solve crimes, flirt with us, and generally make New York specifically, and the World in general, a better place to live. The con man is played by Matt Bomer, whose aforementioned looks would be more than enough for anyone, but brings intelligence and some fun to the role. Tim DeKay is the FBI guy, who keeps both Bomer and the show grounded. Interestingly, by the end of the season, DeKay is every bit as appealing as Bomer is, although the show doesn't try to find weak reasons for him to take his shirt off.

The bump shots steal from "Koyaanisqatsi," which, if you have to, is better than most anything else to reference. The pacing is lively, and the characters are smart and engaging. The recurring story arc, while mostly necessary, is perhaps the weakest element of the show, but doesn't detract from the whole enough to bother anyone. The supporting cast is strong, with nice scenes from Diahann Carroll, and even Tiffani Thiessen isn't annoying after we move through seeing her initially.

It's sort of "48 Hours" meets "Lethal Weapon (before all that Mel Gibson side-show made his movies unwatchable)." A thoroughly enjoyable show.

The Good Wife Season 1 DVD

The Good Wife- Season 1

Paramount DVD

Somewhat leery of anything that seems like a "lady show," from Lifetime or similar, "The Good Wife" is a thoroughly pleasant surprise. It's has the week to week soap opera story arc shows like "Grey's Anatomy" made so popular of late, but each episode is very watchable when taken as individual servings. The cast is very good, beginning with Julianna Margulies, who showed such strength in the early years of  "ER." 

Margulies is an appealing actress, certainly because of that strength, but it's strange to watch a leading female character who couldn't double as a supermodel. It's a small thing perhaps, but it takes a little adjusting.

"The Good Wife" is a political, courtroom, lawyer-driven drama, with twenty-three episodes in the first season. At the beginning it leans on formula, maybe as all new shows have to, but it finds its legs pretty early, utilizing strong writing and characters, to draw in its audience. Chris Noth and Josh Charles are big, recognizable names, who bring some serious weight to the cast, but Archie Panjabi, with a fine acting resume, but still probably most known for the Pinky role in "Bend It Like Beckham," is easily the best part of the show. She plays Kalinda, who is pretty much the ultimate bad-ass, showing just how a strong woman should be. With a guest turn by the wonderful Alan Cumming as a bonus.

By the third or fourth episode it's easy to be fully engrossed in the show, and wonder how it can be moving along so quickly.

• Format: DVD
• Rating: Not Rated
• Number of Discs: 6
• Run Time: 996 Minutes
• Region: 1 
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Language: English
• DVD Release Date: September 14, 2010

Priceless

Priceless
Firstlook Studios Blu-ray

Romantic Comedies are a distinctly American genre, but so few of the ones produced here are ever worth watching. "Priceless" from France reminds us how it should be done. The locations on the French Riviera are spectacular, and are shot beautifully. The script is both funny and touching. The cast is engaging. You get the idea.

This is a timeless romp through locales we all aspire to, with direction that knows enough to keep out of the way and allow the cast to stretch out. Gad Elmaleh, who was tremendous in "The Valet," is a likeable every-man who dares to set his sights on a woman who is willing to trade on her looks to move way up in station. That woman, Irene, is played by Audrey Tautou, whom we've come to know in quirkier roles in "Amelie" and of course "The Da Vinci Code." Tautou is mesmerizing, channeling great screen sirens of the past, as "Priceless" showcases her abilities, and a beauty somehow barely hinted at before.

"Priceless" is wholy deserving on its own merits, but the breakthrough performance by Tautou elevates it even further.

Jenni Alpert

Jenni Alpert - Underneath The Surface
www.jennialpert.com

Nine years after issuing in the new millennium we are still waiting for the next great music trend. Trouble is the music biz is imploding because, well, because of a lot of things. Without getting lost down that rabbit-hole, the whole mess can, on the artist side, be summed up fairly easily- there are very few voices out there worth discussing, maybe because instant distribution stops anyone from developing into anything worthwhile, and maybe because society has devalued music so drastically, with digital theft and all the talent show nonsense, so while more people are singing, fewer seem to do it well.

Singer/songwriter has never really gone out of style, regardless of whatever else is going on, and Jenni Alpert falls pretty naturally into this category. She plays piano, but thankfully avoids the cliches that might spring to mind. She and producer Brad Smith (of Blind Melon) are smart enough to fill out the sound instead of stopping with the sketches others settle for. "Underneath The Surface" has a wonderfully clean sound, allowing it to be very intimate and personal.

Jenni Alpert's voice is a beautiful blend of early Jann Arden, Sarah McLachlan, and even some Karen Carpenter. Now, no one will ever have as sweet a voice as Karen Carpenter, but Alpert brings great tenderness, and a willingness to wear her heart on her sleeve, which she does very endearingly. Her songwriting can be heartbreaking, but she has a sense of self-deprication and even comedy that brings early Aimee Mann to mind.

This is an outstanding album that will have you hoping immediately for more.

Most Valuable Players
www.mostvaluableplayersmovie.com
Documentary
In Select Cities now

American culture likes to find niches to exploit, to blow up bigger than life to sap all the drama out of until moving on to whatever's next when the life has been bled out of it. Away from this sort of tabloid madness are the "little things" that encapsulate what make our culture great to begin with. Director Matthew D. Kallis transports us to a much better place in Most Valuable Players.

Writer/Producer Chris Lockhart came across the Freddy Awards when surfing YouTube at work, an awards program for high school musicals in Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania. Most Valuable Players follows three high schools' musical productions, with extensive interviews with the casts, directors, families, and people who mount the Freddys themselves. The audience is granted a view from the inside, and very quickly are invested in all of it, the kids, the teachers, the promoters, and maybe especially in the communal feeling of small-town school theatre programs.

Arclight Theaters, Hollywood, CA

While the set-up is, on the surface, about the competition between schools and casts to reach and hopefully win the Freddy Awards, Most Valuable Players resonates on much deeper levels. Here are the kids who weren't necessarily blessed with sports abilities, who find a community amongst themselves, who show us the best they have to offer, and essentially the best we as a society have to offer as well.

This is as compelling a film as you will see. You will find yourself completely invested in the kids, and although the competition is the framework here, it's the celebration of all of them that is so amazing. This is a microcosm of the coming generation, full of hope and talent, reminding us of the fresh naive kids within ourselves.

Most Valuable Players reminds us of how engaging the human experience can be, taking us to a place nothing matters but coming together to be the best we can be. That sounds cliche perhaps, but the very simple things can feel that way- it doesn't make them any less important, and this does justice to all of these primal, essential experiences like few films you'll ever be lucky enough to discover.

Songs on my iPod

Okay, generally I despise anything that seems like chainmail- that's the disclaimer, but I got it from Ginger Wildheart and Steve Conte, which is, you know, pretty cool.

Anything that allows me to trot out my music stuff, well, I'm a sucker for that. 

The game was supposed to be to list the first fifteen songs that come up when playing your (my) iPod, and then to send it to twenty-five friends- to 'tag' them. To be fair, I guess I only half read it, so thought it was twenty-five songs, and I'm more comfortable coloring outside the lines anyway, and I'm not about to tag anyone.

During our travels today, Donna wrote down the first twenty-five songs that came up, which follow. Oh, and for backstory, earlier this year (and last) I spent about nine months putting together what then was my "best" iPod mix on our 160G Classic, with just under thirty-five thousand songs. I try to envision the greatest college radio station ever, playing all genres with hits from all ages. Also, it's nearly physically painful not to "cheat," including bands that are favorites, but hey, if they made the initial mix, they're all favorites, in one way or another. Some bands I nearly cheered for when they came on, because I'm that kind of freak.

1. Johnny Paycheck "A-11" (but this shouldn't count as it's the first song every time the iPod gets plugged in), so...

1a. The Rolling Stones "Hold Back" from Dirty Work. Charlie Watts is one of the greatest drummers of all-time. All-time.

2. Echo & The Bunnymen "Lips Like Sugar"

3. Michael Jackson "Billie Jean" (on there before he died, thank you, and deserved to be)

4. Gene Vincent "Somewhere Over The Rainbow" I think this was unreleased except for the awesome Bear Family boxset. Maybe the only recording of a guy singing this, that I know of anyway.

5. Blue Rodeo "Don't Get Angry" Canada didn't make the cut until the fifth (sixth) song!

6. The Who "Substitute"

7. The Quireboys "Take No Revenge" Ginger didn't make the list proper, but he was in the Quireboys for a bit. I'm sure there was lots of drinking and fighting

8. Todd Snider "Will The Circle Be Unbroken" Live bootleg version, from Sacramento, I think

9. Jack Frost "Providence" Steve Kilbey of The Church and Grant McLennnan of The Go-Betweens, from the bootleg "Twin Genius Acoustic"

10. Ricky Nelson "It's Late (Stereo Mix)" from the Bear Family box "American Dream" (again, just a guess, as Donna didn't write down everything. Shabby.

11. Diana Ross "Reach Out And Touch Somebody"

12. The Go-Go's "Vacation"

13. Dolly Parton & Porter Wagoner "Just Someone I Used To Know"

14. Romantica "On My Mind" Cheered for these guys!

15. The Cynics "Business As Usual" Garage Rock so good it'll make your teeth bleed

16. Bob Dylan "Simple Twist Of Fate" from one of my top five albums of all-time, Blood On The Tracks

17. Richmond Fontaine "Contrails" They're like Tom Waits doing Americana. 

18. Peter Wolf "If You Wanna Be With Somebody"

19. Palace Music "Come In"

20. Neil Young "Cinnamon Girl" from Live Rust

21. Durutti Column "Danny"

22. The Junk Monkeys "And It Caved In" Another great Replacements-esque band out of Detroit

23. Love & Rockets "Sweet Lover Hangover"

24. The Rave-Ups "Smile" Our friend Jimmer is a great songwriter- cheered for this coming on

25. The Hombres "Let It All Hang Out" Garage Rock Hall Of Fame

26. Lemmy, Slim Jim, & Danny B.'s very weird cover of "Learning The Game" Jesse Malin just introduced us to Slim Jim after his show the other night!

and finally, but had to be mentioned

27. DGeneration "1981" from the great No Lunch

There were other great things that followed, but I've sort of followed the rules to this point, so need to let it go. It sure would've been great if 63 Monroe or Lords Of The New Church or Hank III had come on, but, I suppose there are always other days. It's a little schizophrenic, but it's always fun.