I Got the Feelin': James Brown in the 60's (2008) Review

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(More customer reviews)May I respectfully say, "James Brown Live At Chastain Park", take a rest.
Here we have two transcendant excursions into Soul Music history, 1968 concerts made within about two weeks of each other, one at the Apollo, the other at the Boston Gardens, and whether or not the proverbial floodgates will be opened, at this point it doesn't matter. The concerts are amazing: Soul Brother Number One at the very top of his form, a singing, dancing, band-directing, audience mesmerizing phenomenon. His renditions of the ballads "Try Me", "Bewildered", the gospel-jazz expositions like "Get It Together", "There Was A Time", and "Cold Sweat" are of course the best out now on DVD.
The earlier TV Special called "Man To Man" appears to be the final TV cut, no extras. The video quality is not what it should be for an artist of his stature, though let's remember that it was done on videotape by Metromedia in New York, not by a network. The viewer should not be upset with some of the trendy kaleidoscope effects, and some hard edits.
We have the much-discussed, much-requested concert from Boston, telecast one day after the assassination of Doctor Martin Luther King. The atmosphere is naturally tense, involves Mayor Kevin White, who delivers a powerful speech.
As ticketholders were offered a refund so as to stay at home and watch the taping, the audience is comparatively sparse. Yet the consummate showman is still able to elicit audible screams on his passionate, intense, sometimes whispered, sometimes belted "It's Man's, Man's, Man's World". He's also able to excite those patrons...the initiated already know the story of those who rushed the stage on a night that all were asked to remember Doctor King and enjoy James Brown in Peace. It was on outpouring of Love but the camera lens can distort. And Brown knew it.
There are two songs live from the Olympia, 1966 and 1967, though the jacket says 1968 and 1967. The latter was totally unexpected by this Brownologist: the Live At The Apollo, Volume Two arrangemet of "It's A Man's....World"! Not gonna give it all up at this juncture - suffice to say, it's way better on this DVD than on the recent, expanded CD reissue.
The Documentary on Disc Three is surely worth an Oscar.
The bits and pieces of that 1968 concert now form into an amazing whole, which the Documentary Producer duly notes was long, long overdue for commercial release. To support his backstory, is the sensuous Marva Whitney, his 1967-1970 Diva (Disc Two should have included some of her performance); and Charles Bobbitt, his Manager, who tells the story of how he became James Brown's Manager - and how he had to watch the turnstiles that night...and the safety of his friend and client.

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I Got the Feelin': James Brown in the '60s is the definitive look at JB's on-stage prowess, including an acclaimed documentary, two previously unreleased concerts, and more. With full-length versions of many classics, including"I Feel Good," "Out Of Sight," "Cold Sweat," "Try Me," "I Got The Feelin'," "It's A Man's Man's Man's World," "Bewildered," and "Please, Please, Please," I Got the Feelin': James Brown in the '60s is an essential part of any music lover's collection. DISC 1: THE NIGHT JAMES BROWN SAVED BOSTON Features the director's cut of the acclaimed VH1 film The Night James Brown Saved Boston, which tells the story of a 1968 concert that not only averted riots in Boston in the aftermath of MLK's assassination, but also set James Brown on a revolutionary new path.Includes additional interviews with members of James Brown's band, friends and colleagues, plus a panel discussion from the film's premiere in Boston. DISC 2: LIVE AT THE BOSTON GARDEN Features the historic 1968 Boston Garden concert as originally broadcast by WGBH. Contains additional audio from the radio simulcast of the concert. DISC 3: LIVE AT THE APOLLO '68 Features Man to Man: James Brown Live at The Apollo Theater 1968, a TV special taped the week before the Boston show and unseen for 40 years! Plus bonus performances from 1967 and 1968 shows at L'Olympia in Paris, AND the legendary version of "Out of Sight" from The T.A.M.I. Show (1964).

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Best Years: Complete Second Season (2008) Review

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(More customer reviews)The first season was soooo amazing! It was my favorite show and I couldn't wait for the second season. But it took over a year for it to come out and when it did it was awful! The characters acted like they weren't even them, the show became really stupid. Too bad, because the first season was awesome.

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Samantha Best (Charity Shea) returns to Charles University feistier, wiser and ready to take on her sophomore year. With new \'frenemies" to watch out for as well as two romantic interests competing for her attention, it\'s going to be a year to remember.

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Our Fathers (2005) Review

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(More customer reviews)For me there were two key scenes in "Our Fathers," the 2005 Showtime movie about the sexual abuse and scandal that rocked the Catholic Church in Boston. The first is when a group of hardhats makes a crude sexual remark to Olan Horne (Chris Beauer), one of the men who was abused when he was a boy. They all laugh and the victim gets in their face and tells them exactly what happened. You would think this would make these jerks shut up, but when he turns and leaves another one of them makes another remark. Which requires another victim (Daniel Baldwin) to get it that idiot's face. But clearly the chain will remain unbroken, because these are people who will never learn. Throughout the movie there are those who will refuse to accept the truth, which is part of the reason that it kept happening over and over again, just like the cruel jokes in this scene.
The second comes after Horne knocks on the door of Cardinal Bernard Law (Christopher Plummer) and is not only able to talk to head of the Boston archdiocese but actually convinces the Cardinal to go with him to a meeting of the victims. Such a meeting clearly constitutes too little too late, and I totally agree that Law had to resign, but I was moved by the idea that Law remembered what it was like to be a priest who looks out for his parishioners. That does not take away from the tragedy, but it does make Law human and underscore that if he or somebody else in authority had done the right thing the lives of countless young boys would not have been ruined (What would have been the right thing? Well, I would argue that along with forgiveness and treatment, expelling the priests should have been part of the deal [I would not expect the Church to turn priests over to temporal authorities any more than I expect it to do the same with its parishioners).
I hope that the screenplay by Thomas Michael Donnelly ("The Garden of Redemption"), based on the book by David France, was not taking too many liberties with regards to these scenes, especially the second one. I understand that having Cardinal Law watching Richard Barton being executed in Canterbury Cathedral in "Becket" when he reaches the decision to resign is poetic license rather than something that is historically documented (at least I assume it is). Then again, I also appreciate the irony, since after Law's resignation Pope John Paul II (Jan Rubes) gave the former Boston archbishop the title archpriest of St. Mary Major Basilica, a largely ceremonial post often given to retired prelates. You see, the basilica houses not only the body of Pope St. Pius V, but also the brains, tunic, and at least part of the head of St. Thomas a Becket. It might be another unwarranted one, but I assume Donnelly knows this odd little fact.
"Our Fathers" is a bit sketchy at times, mainly because it tries to cover so much ground and so many characters. Lawyer Mitchell Garabedian (Ted Danson) is the character that has the privileged hero role in the narrative, but more because he is in the position to tie all of the threads together and not because what he does is any more heroic than the men who came forward to say what happened to them when there were boys. Father Dominic Spagnolia (Brian Dennehy) is another key but minor character because he shows that even as all of this was being brought into the light, the Church continued to knock down those whose sin was speaking the truth. A television movie can hardly be faulted for not really explaining why the church hierarchy did what it did. We know that Cardinal Law was scarcely the first prelate to cover up the sexual abuse of priests, and there was a point where the veil of secrecy became de facto policy rather than a conscious decision. But there was never a point in the past or in the present where any of this was right and part of the horror of it all is that it is unbelievable that the people who knew did not know any better when it came to cleaning God's house.

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OUR FATHERS - DVD Movie

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Banacek: The Complete Series Box Set (2008) Review

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(More customer reviews)Those of you looking for a traditional whodunnit may be disappointed in this series. "Banacek" is more like waiting for a magician to explain his trick than finally knowing who committed the crime.
What makes the series amazing is how the writers came up with such elaborate robberies.
As I rewatched the episodes, not only did I appreciate this complexity, but I also started laughing at the hysterical Polish proverbs Banacek quotes and the dry and occasionally double entendre humor that George Peppard delivers perfectly.
When you add the humor and complexity to the great guest stars (Anne Baxter, Linda Evans, Dick Van Patten, et al.), you get a series that's a absolute treat.


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George Peppard stars as Thomas Banacek, Boston's leading freelance investigator. When a crime proves too difficult for insurance investigators to solve, Banacek is called on in this classic series from the early 70s that was part of the Sunday Night Mystery Movie series. Guest stars include Stephanie Powers, Margot Kidder, Michael Lerner, Brenda Vaccaro, Victoria Principal and many more. All 16 of the original shows and the original pilot program are now available in this five DVD set. Classic TV lovers rejoice!Bonus Features: Contains the Original Pilot Episode, Detour To Nowhere, Photo Gallery & TV Trivia Crossword Puzzles.

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