Reviews by TrekMedic

Coming from a big, immigrant Italian family myself, this movie holds a special place in my heart.

The conflict between the two brothers, Primo and Secondo, and their rival, Ian Holm's Pascal (in an over-the-top performance) mirrored the American immigrant experience: does one stick to their heritage, like Secondo, who serves "traditional" Italian fare to a scant clientele, or jump into the melting pot, like Pascal, who "gives the people what they want" - a big, pedestrian, plate of spaghetti and meatballs?


Tony Shalhoub's Primo ends being caught in the middle of this argument, seeing "selling out" as his ticket out of the financial mess his brother's restaurant has become.

Minnie Driver's character, Phyllis, the quintessential "Joisey Girl" was a complete waste of her talent.

Overall, this was a real hidden gem of a movie!

Once you get past the ridiculous name and suspend some degree of reality (not unlike "Murder She Wrote") its another run-of-the-mill "murder among the wealthy landed gentry" series, with everyone involved having some deep, dark secret. The fun is sorting the red herrings from the final resolution and that's what keeps your attention.

How much do I dislike XIII? Let me count the ways:

NOTE – This rant MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS!

XIII – Another made-in-Canada but set in the US, eh? Series!
XII – Produced by Europeans with little-to-no-concept of the 21st Century United States.
XI – Acting that makes “Showgirls” look Oscar-worthy.
X – A convoluted and incoherent plot.
IX – A 24-hour news channel/Greek chorus (complete with stereotypical vapid blonde talking head) that suspiciously looks like a parody of Fox News.
VIII – Ingrid Kavelaars’ role as a Sarah Palin-like presidential candidate is so bad it makes Tina Fey’s Palin parody on Saturday Night Live look intelligent by comparison.
VII – European actors trying to use cool, American slang made me fall of the couch laughing!
VI – Shanghai looks just like Toronto? Who knew?
V – A global tech company instigating every global event and pulling the strings behind the US government? Yeah, let’s perpetuate that Euro-view stereotype!
IV – Since the producers in Europe apparently have no access to cable or the internet, they wouldn’t know America’s election process,…
III – Or the handoff of control between elected administrations,…
II – Or the utter unlikelihood of a military seizure of power between adminstrations!
I – Finally,...an overall anti-American message that was so off base, it makes Severin Severin’s infantile [Link removed - login to see] seem coherent!

More like "Tediuum." Another sterile, made-in-Canada sci-fi show that shouldn't be aired too late at night, or it'll put you to sleep.

Doris Day, in the twilight of her movie career, trying to simultaneously keep her good-girl image and hop on the suave, globe-trotting spy genre (a/k/a James Bond). It didn't go nearly as well as it should have: even though Doris was in great shape for her age (early 40s), she clearly wasn't a "girl," especially a "Bond girl" type. Just enjoy it for the light, mid-60s fare that it is,...

BBC America just played this ahead of the Blu-Ray release, so I dragged out the entire trilogy (House of Cards, To Play The King and The Final Cut)from my DVD collection. Somewhat dated (this was originally broadcast in the early-to-mid 90s) Eastern European references aside, this black comedy, not-as-lethal version of Richard III is still incredibly entertaining.

Is it insanity to pursue the existence of God, or does obtaining that knowledge create the insanity? Darren Aronofsky sets up that premise, but portraying the protagonist with underlying mental health issues,and leaves just enough red herrings to have a lot of questions unanswered.

One of the few BBC shows that focused on rural Scottish life. I really liked the show, even with all the cast changes.

Another iteration of Aaron Sorkin's idealistic, liberal media world. Repeated slams against everything and anything that doesn't lean left in America. You can populate the show with the most telegenic actors and write the snappiest dialogue, but in the end, it's the same ol' BS! Didn't Studio 60 get canned using the same format?

This was so bad, I couldn't watch the entire first 30 minutes! Someone from the production company clearly has something on the head of programming at ABC! OMFG my head still hurts!