DVD Review: The Equalizer season one.

The Equalizer's Robert McCall (Edward Woodward) is a blunt object. An educated, cultured blunt object, but blunt object all the same. That paradox is a part of what made. and for the most part, still makes it work He attends the Opera and then wallows in the gutter with the worst of the bad, beating them at their own game, so that you and I can attend the Opera the next night, rarely getting any on himself. He is so compartmentalized you can hear the doors creak. He is difficult to love but easy to respect and if the waste matter hits the oscillating cooling unit, he's the one you want on your side. And therein is the premise.

"Got a problem? Odds against you?" His newspaper ad invites you to wield him like an enchanted sword in the Arthurian tales, as he works off his sins of the past by helping the weak (read you and me) instead of the nameless government agency that has employed him throughout his adult life.



With a pack of characters from 'The Company' lending a hand as needed. I do not use the term characters loosely, these are the most fleshed out peripherals I can recall. From Jimmy, who is going through a very ugly and expensive divorce to my favorite , Mickey Kostmeyer (Keith Szarabajka) maybe the best sidekick since Gabby Hayes.We meet Mickey in China Rain, the second episode fishing of a dock. He begins reeling in his line and McCall, who has not asked for help asks what he is doing. "I figured you needed some whack job to stick his finger in the fan." Mickey will stick his finger in the fan. And the fan will lose. Regrettably, Mickey was never a regular (nor was anyone else) but any episode he appeared in was cause for celebration as far as I'm concerned. Also Robert Lansing as Control was first rate lending a world weary gravity to several stories

There are twenty-two episodes and commentary by the shows creator Michael Sloan and quite a parade of guest stars including Meatloaf, Kim Delaney later of NYPD Blue and credited here as Dana Delaney, Robert Davi, Gwen Verden, Melissa Joan Hart, Alberta Watson, and too many more to just list.

I was a fan in 1985 when it debuted and I still am. It's stood up quite well all in all. Sure it is a little dated in some spots, dial telephones and downright laughable computers. There is also more humor than I would have recalled, mostly at the expense of McCalls somewhat stuffy self.

The Equalizer is unique in crime drama and I'd say well worth your time.

Order season one of the The Equalizer from Amazon.

Lee Crawford

For more reviews from Lee, and the rest of the Crimespree crew, check out the index of reviews.

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New trailer for Get Smart online.

The folks over at Apple have a new trailer for the upcomg Get Smart film.

I have to say, it is actually pretty damn funny.

"When the headquarters of U.S. spy agency Control is attacked and the identities of its agents compromised, the Chief (Alan Arkin) has no choice but to promote his ever-eager analyst Maxwell Smart, who has always dreamt of working in the field alongside stalwart superstar Agent 23 (Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson). Smart is partnered instead with the only other agent whose identity has not been compromised: the lovely-but-lethal veteran Agent 99 (Anne Hathaway). As Smart and 99 get closer to unraveling KAOS’ master plan—and each other—they discover that key KAOS operative Siegfried (Terence Stamp) and his sidekick Shtarker (Kenneth Davitian) are scheming to cash in with their network of terror. Given little field experience and even less time, Smart—armed with nothing but a few spy-tech gadgets and his unbridled enthusiasm—must defeat KAOS if he is to save the day."

Get Smart reaches theaters on June 20th.

For a look at the cast and crew of Get Smart, click here.

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Shutter Island picks up three more cast members.

Three more actors have beenadded to the cast of Shutter Island. Yes, it apparently is being called Shutter Island. It looks like the temporary name Ashecroft was simply a matter of a publicist taking matters into his own hands. Don’t worry, he was taken out behind the mailroom, seriously beaten and then forced to watch Joel Schumacher movies.

The Hollywood Reporter is reporting that Max Von Sydow, Jackie Earle Haley and Emily Mortimer have all joined the cast.

Sydow will be playing a physician at the asylum.

MVS was nominated for anOscar for his lead performance in Pele the Conqueror. He has also appearedalongside Robert Redford (back when Mr. Redford was delivering great films…I really miss those days, I wonder if Mr. Redford misses them. If not, somebody should make him watch Legal Eagles, Havana and Up close & Personal.) in the amazing Three Days of the Condor, The Exorcist and The Seventh Seal.

Jackie Earle Haley came to fame in his youth with the Bad News Bears films as well as Breaking Away. After being gone from the scene for years, he returned in the critically acclaimed independent film Little Children and will be in the upcoming film The Watchmen.

Haley will be playing an inmate.

Emily Mortimer was recently seen in Match Point and Lars and the Real Girl, and will be playing an escaped inmate named Rachael.

These three join the already announced cast of Leo DiCaprio, Mark Ruffalo, Michelle Williams, Patricia Clarkeson and Sir Ben Kingsley.

Shutter Island is based on the novel of Dennis Lehane and is being directed by Martin Scorsese.

The project picked up some other good news, as the distribution for several European countries.
TeleMuchen paid Twelve million for the German rights, Medusa forked over Ten million for the rightsfor Italy, Manga 6-8 million for Spain and Vantage is paying around 2 millionto distribute it in Russia.
And the film has not even started production yet.

I am already making plans to snag some of those posters.

Production will be starting in mid March.

For more info on Shutter Island, check out our previous posts.

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Vince Flynn signs new book/film deal with CBS.

Best-selling author Vince Flynn has signed a comprehensive new deal that will keep his work in the CBS Corporation for the foreseeable future.


First,
CBS films has acquired the film rights to Flynn’s novels and plans to launch a franchise based on his character Mitch Rapp. Rapp, a CIA operative, has been the star of eight of Flynn’s nine books.

Amy Baer, President & CEO of CBS Films:
"One of my first goals for CBS Films was to find a character-based movie franchise. With the Mitch Rapp series, Vince Flynn has created a relatable, modern, post-9/11 hero for the action/thriller genre. It is an amazing collection of creative material that offers tremendous potential for a smart, energizing new film franchise with appeal to a wide range of movie- going audiences. The publishing world has always provided abundant source material for motion pictures, and we're fortunate that our corporate cousins at Simon & Schuster attract and nurture some of the world's best literary assets."

Vince Flynn:
"I couldn't be happier with this deal. Signing up for four more books, keeping the movie in the family with CBS Films and getting Lorenzo and Nick to sign on as producers ... it's the outcome I'd always hoped for. Loyalty is a big thing to me. Simon & Schuster, Atria and Pocket Books have stood by me for 10 years and done a magnificent job publishing my novels. Lorenzo and Nick have been trying to bring Mitch Rapp to the big screen since 2004, so there is a level of commitment on their part that is very comforting to me. They understand Mitch Rapp, as does Amy Baer and her team. It is going to be a lot of fun watching CBS Films hit this thing out of the park."

Lorenzo di Bonaventura and Nick Wechsler will produce the films.

No mention was made as to which book they would use as the basis for the first film.

The second part of this deal is a worldwide four-book deal that includes the audio rights. The plan is to release the first of these in 2010. It will simultaneously be released in the U.S., U.K., Canada and Australia.

Not bad for a guy that self-published his first novel.

For all of our c0verage on this, click here.

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Somebody is going down tonight: A preview of tonight's episode of The Wire.

Episode #58: "Clarifications"
Debut: SUNDAY, FEB. 24 (9:00-10:00 p.m.)
Other HBO playdates: Feb. 24 (10:30 p.m.), 26 (3:10 a.m.), 27 (11:00 p.m.), 28 (10:00 p.m.) and 29 (8:00 p.m.)
HBO2 playdate: Feb. 25 (10:00 p.m.)

Baltimore's renewed police commitment brings fresh recruits to Daniels (Lance Reddick) and McNulty, starting with Carver.

Facing a new political challenge, Carcetti is forced to make dangerous political deals.

As the Pulitzer season winds down, Haynes approaches Templeton about his sources.

Bunk returns a McNulty favor.

Little Kenard (Thuliso Dingwall) makes a big score.

Dukie finds work.

Fletcher (Brandon Young) continues his interview with Bubbles.

Freamon presents his latest plan to a prosecutor.

Sydnor (Corey Parker Robinson) uncovers the missing piece to a puzzle.

McNulty comes clean.

As the title states, somebody goes down. Another player that has been around since day one leaves the show in a way that will likely stun many.

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DVD Review: The Rockford Files season five.

With any popular show, there is always some concern that the new season might not be as good as the last. Fans of The Rockford Files will find those fears unfounded in regards to season five. It is as strong as ever, with almost all of the regulars (more on that later) back for another go round with one of the finest P.I.s In the history of television.

Jim Rockford, for those of you that are unfamiliar with him and the show, is an ex-con (wrongfully imprisioned, but evenutally pardoned) turned P.I. Jim is not the slick, well-dressed P.I. that many might think of, he is a blue-collar guy that busts his butt to keep his head above water.

Jim was frequently assisted by his father (Noah Berry, Jr), Rocky, a retired truck driver, and regularly called in favors to his cop buddy Sgt. Dennis Becker (Joe Santos). Unfortunately for him (And fortunately for us), Jim often found himself dragged into troubled waters by his former cellmate con-artist "Angel" Martin (Stuart Margolin).

After the fourth season, the show lost a valuable member of the supporting cast: Beth Davenport (Gretchen Corbett). Davenport was Jim’s attorney and love interest. When her management demanded too much money, she was written out of the show. While the show was still uniformed good, the loss is a tough one, as her relationship with Jim was something special.

Season five also saw the appearance of private eye Lance White, a dashing and somewhat stupid fellow that seemed to be almost the opposite of Jim Rockford. White was played by a young Tom Selleck. Not surprisingly, Jim was more than a little resentful (and envious) of White.

Selleck, of course, went on to play private investigator Thomas Magnum.

Season five was the last of the full-length seasons for the show. While there are 19 episodes, 3 of them are longer than usual. Those three suffered in syndication with two being given extra (unnecessary) scenes to make them long enough to two parts, while the other was actually shortened to fit into one hour. This set presents them in their original format for the first time since their original airing.

There are no extras on this set.

Overall, TRF was stands the test of time and truly is one of the best P.I. series ever made. This five is as good as any of them and is worth owning and watching again and again.

Jeremy Lynch

Order The Rockford Files from Amazon.

For more reviews from myself, and the rest of the Crimespree crew, check out the index of reviews.

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DVD Info: Mannix coming to DVD.

Paramount/CBS has announced that season one of Mannix will be released, on DVD, on June 3rd.

Joe Mannix (Mike Connors) was a private investigator that worked for a computer company known as Intertect. Keep in mind that this is 1967, so we are talking about computers that fill rooms and use punch cards.

Looking up the 24 episodes on IMDB, I could not help but noticing a fair amount of special guests: Tom Skerritt, Neil Diamond, Neil Young, Stephen Stills, Richard Mulligan, Norman Fell, Army Archerd, Rona Barrett, and Karen Black.

The only bonus I know of will be a new interview with Connors.

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DVD Review: In the Heat of the Night (40th Anniversary Edition)

If you take away the historical impact of it, In the Heat of the Night is a classic crime film. But when you add the racial aspects, well it becomes one of the all time greats.

When an important white gentleman is found dead, Deputy Ben Bubba (Warren Oates) is told, by Chief Gilispe (Rod Stiger) to check the usual spots: the pool hall and the train station. While the pool hall is indeed closed and empty, his trip to the train depot results in the discovery of a black man with a considerable amount of cash on him. Certain he has his man; Bubba takes him in to see the chief.

The man is Virgil Tibbs (Sidney Poitier) who, it turns out, is a homicide detective from Philadelphia. After a fairly tense questioning, this info comes out and Tibbs is released, but not before Tibb’s boss offers Tibb’s skills as a detective to help with the case.
By the end of the film, Gillespie and Tibbs come to respect each other and have maybe…just maybe..even learn from one another.

Now before I break down this edition, let me save some of you a little time. If you don’t own ITHOTN, you really need to pick it up. It truly is one of the greats. It was nominated for seven Oscars and picked up five. Know what? It deserved every damn one of them.


Both Poitier and Steiger deliver the goods. Poitier shows great range here, expressing anger to compassion without going overboard. His performance, while not necessarily understated, is loaded with subtly. Steiger certainly comes across as your basic ignorant redneck sheriff, but clearly is just smart enough to know when is in over his head.


So on to the extras:
This is not the first DVD release of IthofN (I am not sure what words get capitalized so bear with me.) so folks that already own it might be wondering if it is worth the double dip.
The picture quality of the film itself is noticeably better than in the previous release, the images are sharper and the colors much stronger.

First up is a commentary track with director Norman Jewison, cinematographer Haskell Wexler, and cast members Lee Grant and Rod Steiger. Sadly, Poitier is nowhere to be found here. The track provides some interesting insight, treating us to some technical aspects as well as giving some historical perspective. It is pretty clear that not all of it was taped at the same time, but spliced together to sound like a conversation. This track is the sole carryover from the previous DVD release.

For this anniversary edition, MGM saw fit to put together a trio of new featurettes.
Turning Up The Heat: Making movies in the 60s. This is a look at the making of the film and the impact it had on cinema at the time. Filmmaker John Singleton as well as various historians as they share their thoughts on Heat and reactions it garnered both in the white and black communities in the 60s. For those of us that did not live through the 60s, this is extremely enlightening as it talks about civil rights and the issues of the time.

The Slap heard round the world. This, running eight minutes, talks about the impact of a very memorable scene between Tibbs and Eric Endicott (played by Larry Gates). We hear from many of the same interviewees (from the previous featurettes) as they discuss this. The scene may very well have been the first one to show a black man slap a white man. This scene shows Tibbs refusing to allow himself to be treated as less than the man he is. I saw this film, for the first time, when I was about 12. Even at that time, I understood the power of the scene, but not the historical importance. This will certainly help some folks see what this meant for many of those that were struggling for their civil rights and liberties.

Quincy Jones: Breaking New Sound (13 minutes) talks about innovative use of jazz for the film. Unbeknownst me, Heat was one of the first films to use jazz in the soundtrack. Again, the aforementioned folks talk about Jones and how he used this

Even if you have purchased the previous disc, this is a must own. The picture quality alone makes it a worthy upgrade, with the extras being a bonus.

Jeremy Lynch
Order In the Heat of the Night from Amazon.

For more reviews from myself, and the rest of the Crimespree crew, check out the index of reviews.

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DVD info: date, details announced for DVD/Blu-ray release of Juno.

Yes, I know it is not a crime flick. But Juno is a damn good film that will be enjoyed by fans of smart films.

Besides, it was written by a fellow Minnesotan.

Fox has announced that it will release both single disc and two-disc versions of Juno, as well as a Blu-ray edition, on April 15th.

The single-disc DVD (SRP $29.98) will include
Commentary By Director Jason Reitman And Writer Diablo Cody
11 Deleted Scenes
Gag Reel
Gag Take
Cast & Crew Jam
Screen Tests

The 2-disc DVD special edition ($34.98) will include all of the above as well as:
Way Beyond “Our” Maturity Level: Juno – Leah – Bleeker Featurette
Diablo Cody Is Totally Boss Featurette
Jason Reitman For Shizz Featurette
Honest To Blog! Creating Juno Featurette
Digital copy of the film

Blu-Ray Disc ($39.98):
"The Juno BD release will be authored in BD-Java with AVC (MPEG 4 compression) on a dual-layer 50 GB disc with English 5.1 DTS HD Lossless Master Audio plus English, French and Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital sound. The disc features Digital Copy and all of the above special features with the following additional extras:
Fox Movie Channel Presents: World Premiere – Juno
Fox Movie Channel Presents: Casting Session – Juno"

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ABC announces dates for returning shows.

I have updated the previous list to include the ABC shows.

Couple things of note: Lost will now be on at 10pm EST on Thursdays, with Grey's Anatomy as it's lead.

Dirty Sexy Money, Pushing Daisies and Private Practice will not be returning this season, but will be back for in the fall each with a whole new season.

UPDATE: ABC has ordered 3 new episodes for The Women's Murder Club. I would say the future of the show rests on how well the new episodes do.

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DVD Review: Michael Clayton

Michael Clayton is a tight legal thriller that is everything that most of the genre want to be: Suspenseful and smart, with a complex and rather clever screenplay. After seeing it, you won’t be able to settle for the likes of The Firm and Legal Eagles (Well. Nobody really accepted LE as anything but crap in the first place) again.

Michael Clayton (George Clooney) is a high-priced lawyer for the New York law firm Kenner, Bach and Leeden. Interestingly enough, he does not even practice law. He is a fixer…a self-described janitor whose job it is to clean up the nasty little messes of the firm’s clients.

When Michael’s mentor Arthur Eden (Brilliantly played by Tom Wilkinson) suffers a meltdown (He is bi-polar and recently stopped taking his meds) in the middle of a very important deposition, Michael is called in to clean up and get everything back on track. The client in question is U/North, an agrochemical company that is dealing with a multi-billion dollar class action suit as a result of releasing toxic pollutants into a farming community.


Michael heads to Milwaukee to clean things up, but encounters resistance from Arthur who, while freely admitting to have stopped taking his meds, insists his actions are the result of the realization that he is defending a company that is guilty of destroying the lives of many innocent folk.

Though clearly off his rocker, Arthur still has his wits and soon disappears with vital documents that might bring ruin to U/North. When Michael is not able to clean things up right away, U/N’s in-house lawyer Karen Crowder (Another exquisite performance, this time by Tilda Swinton) becomes impatient and decides to take matters into her own hands.

In addition to this, Michael, a former gambling addict, has recently had a restaurant go belly up. He now owes 75K to some folk that have no qualms about getting mean.

Believe it or not, this is simply the beginning of a tale that will keep you entranced until the very final scene.

While MC is indeed a legal thriller, it is very much a character study. We get close-up looks at some very flawed people, all of whom are struggling to do their jobs to the best of their ability.

MC has a distinct look, one that harkens back to the glory days of Sidney Lumet. It has a dark, rather muted look that matches the overall tone of the film.


This is the directing debut of Tom Gilroy. Gilroy’s previous Hollywood experiences have been as a screenwriter with The Devil’s Advocate and films of the Jason Bourne series under his belt. But none of his pervious work hinted at the skill and vision that he shows here.


The entire cast is phenomenal here. Clooney manages to deliver his usual charm, but in a more sedate way. Michael is a bit frayed around the edges, the moral ambiguity of his job taking its toll on his character. He seems to be questioning whether or not there is more to life and if he has been wasting his time and energy helping the rich avoid responsibility for their actions.

But while Clooney is good, the real magic is Tom Wilkinson and Tilda Swinton. Both give performances that most actors could hope to have once in a lifetime.

Tom’s deranged Arthur Eden could easily go completely over the top, becoming a scenery-chewing monster, but Wilkinson gives him heart and turmoil and keeps his humanity front and center.

This was the first time I had seen Tilda, and I will never forget her. Karen Crowder comes across not as evil, but as a person whose ambition gets the better of her, sending her down a dark path from which she is unable to escape.

We get just a few extras, one being a commentary track with writer/director Tony Gilroy and his brother editor John Gilroy. Honestly, the commentary did little for me. Tony seemed so damn happy to get to make his own film that he spends half of the track gushing about his good fortunes.

We also get about five minutes of deleted scenes. Nothing too special here.

I am guessing we will see a special edition of Clayton down the line and that this bare-bones release is being pushed into the market to cash in on the Oscar hype. The skimpiness of this release does nothing to lessen the impact of such a fine film. Michael Clayton, by itself, is worth the price of this release.

Order Michael Clayton from Amazon.

Jeremy Lynch
For more reviews from myself, and the rest of the Crimespree crew, check out the index of reviews.

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DVD releases for Feb 19th.

American Gangster (2007) Dir: Ridley Scott; Denzel Washingston, Russell Crowe. Click here for complete details.


In the Valley of Elah (2007) Dir.: Paul Haggis; Tommy Lee Jones, Charlize Theron, Susan Sarandon, James Franco, Frances Fisher, Tim McGraw, Jason Patric. Extras: "In the Valley of Elah: After Iraq" and "In the Valley of Elah: Coming Home". (Warner).

Michael Clayton (2007)Dir: Tony Gilroy; George Clooney, Tom Wilkinson, Tilda Swinton, Sydney Pollack Extras: commentary track with writer/director Tony Gilroy and editor John Gilroy, deleted scenes (Warner)

Rendition (2007) Reese Witherspoon, Jake Gyllenhaal, Meryl Streep, Alan Arkin, Peter Sarsgaard, Christian Martin. Extras: commentary with director Gavin Hood, Intersections: The Making of Rendition, Outlawed featurette, Deleted scenes with audio commentary, Alternate scenes, Theatrical trailer (New Line).

Walker, Texas Ranger: the complete Fourth season Chuck Norris (Paramount)

For more dates and info on forthcoming releases, check out our DVD calendar.

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DVD Review: Ironside seasons 1 & 2.

Ironside is a show that evokes a few thoughts immediately. The piercing opening sounds of the theme song by Quincy Jones, the silhouette of Ironside getting shot and of course Raymond Burr in a wheelchair. My own memories of this show also included a really cool place to live and a team of people helping him out who always seemed to have fun. The reality is my memory was a bit off, hell, I was only four years old when it premiered. But now pleasantly set in my forties I watch this show with adult eyes and what I see is a great television show.

Ironside was the first TV show to film and air a pilot movie. The pilot introduces us to Robert T Ironside of the San Francisco Police. He's the Chief of detectives and he's all cop. His boss convinces him to take some time off and while on a farm in the country he gets shot in the back. He soon learns that he is paralyzed from the waist down and will never walk again. Ironside see this as an inconvenience and wants back on the job. Politics being what they are he can't come back, at least not under the same circumstances. He makes an arrangement to work as consultant and he moves into empty office space upstairs at the main police station. Working with him he has two officers that he trained as detectives, Sgt. Ed Brown played by Don Galloway in what would turn out to be his biggest role, and Eve Whitfield played by Barbara Anderson. Anderson won an Emmy for her role but left the show over contract disputes. The third part of Ironside's trio of crime solving terror was Mark Sanger portrayed by Don Mitchell. Mark was not a cop, but actually an ex juvenile delinquent that Ironside hires to help him, driving, cooking, and bodyguard and valet type services. Ironside made Mark promise one thing before he took the job, that he would finish school.( In the last season Mark graduates Law school ).

The late sixties was an interesting time to do a cop show, even one that was a little different. There was distrust among the public and things weren't as black and white as they used to be. The show embraced the times. While some of the shows may seem a bit dated with the hippies and black power themes the message is still a good one. You can't judge people as a whole. And anyone who thought Ironside was just another cop had a big surprise coming. He helped the underdogs, he stood on the right side of every moral issue, and all the while being true to the one thing he believed in, justice. While Ironside was doing good things, he still came across as a curmudgeon at times, he has some of the snarkiest lines I've heard on TV. But at the end of the day, he was always fair, to everyone.

Production wise the show is a mix of studio back lots which may be reused a bit too often and lots of exterior shots of San Francisco. In one episode we are in a hip Jazz club and in the next the same set is run down bar. That's ok, the panning shots of the city and the location shooting more than made up for it.

Ironside had two other real strengths, the writing and the guest stars. Such mystery greats as Ed McBain and Brett Halliday wrote for the show along with some of Hollywood's best writers. The stories were smart and clever and very topical. One guest writer was also a guest star. Milton Burle wrote an episode that had him cast as a loud mouth talk show host who liked to rile things up. Just a bit ahead of its time I'd say. The show also had appearances by Jack Lord
a year before Hawaii Five-0, Burgess Meredith, Ricardo Montelbon, and many other television greats.

I would recommend this show to anyone who enjoys good cop shows or likes to solve a mystery along side the stars of the show. So far just the first two season are out. I want them all.

Jon Jordan
For more reviews from Jon, and the rest of the Crimespree crew, check out the index of reviews.

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Dates for new episodes on ABC, CBS, CWand NBC.

ABC, CBS, CW and NBC have all announced the dates for the returning scripted shows. CW and CBS have also released the number of episodes each show will have.

I will post info on Fox as soon as it is available.


"30 Rock" (NBC, Thursdays, 8:30-9 p.m. ET)
Resumes April 10

"Two and a Half Men," (CBS, Mondays, 9-9:30 p.m. ET)
Resumes March 17, 9 new episodes

"Aliens in America," (CW, Sundays, 8:30-9 p.m. ET)
Resumes March 2, 8 episodes

"The Big Bang Theory," (CBS, Mondays, 8:30-9 p.m. ET)
Resumes March 17, 9 new episodes

"Boston Legal" (ABC, Tuesdays, 10:00-11:00 p.m. ET)
Resumes April 8, 6 new episodes.

Brothers & Sisters" (ABC, Sundays, 10:00-11:00 p.m. ET)
Resumes April 20, 4 new episodes

"Cold Case," (CBS, Sundays, 9-10 p.m. ET)
Resumes March 30, 5 new episodes

"Criminal Minds," (CBS, Wednesdays, 9-10 p.m. ET)
Resumes April 2, 7 new episodes

"CSI," (CBS, Thursdays, 9-10 p.m. ET)
Resumes April 3, 6 new episodes

"CSI: Miami," (CBS, Mondays, 10-11 p.m. ET)
Resumes March 24, 8 new episodes

"CSI: NY," (CBS, Wed, 10-11 p.m. ET)
Resumes April 2, 7 new episodes

"Desperate Housewives" (ABC, Sundays, 9:00-10:00 p.m., ET)
Resumes April 13, 6 new episodes

"ER" (NBC, Thursdays, 10-11 p.m. ET)
Resumes April 10

"Everybody Hates Chris" (CW, Monday, 8-8:30 p.m. ET)
Resumes March 3 12 episodes

"The Game," (CW, Sundays, 8:30-9 p.m. ET)
Resumes March 23, 9 new episodes

"Ghost Whisperer," (CBS, Fridays, 8-9 p.m. ET)
Resumes April 4, 6 new episodes

"Gossip Girl," (CW, Mondays, 8-9 p.m. ET)
Resumes April 21, 5 new episodes

"Grey's Anatomy" (ABC, Thursdays, 9:00-10:00 p.m., ET)
Resumes April 24, 5 new episodes

"How I Met Your Mother," (CBS, Mondays, 8-8:30 p.m. ET)
Resumes March 17, 9 new episodes

"Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" (NBC, Tuesdays, 10-11 p.m. ET)
Resumes April 15

"Law & Order" (NBC, Wednesdays, 10-11 p.m. ET)
Resumes April 23

"Lost" (ABC, Thursdays, 10-11 p.m. ET)
Resumes April 24, 5 new episodes.

"Medium" (NBC, Mondays, 10-11 p.m. ET)
Continues current run

"Moonlight," (CBS, Fridays, 9-10 p.m. ET )
Resumes April 11, 4 new episodes

"NCIS," (CBS, Tuesdays, 8-9 p.m. ET)
Resumes April 8, 7 new episodes

"Numb3rs," (CBS, Fridays, 10-11 p.m. ET)
Resumes on April 4, 6 new episodes

"The Office" (NBC, Thursdays, 9-9:30 p.m. ET)
Resumes April 10

"One Tree Hill," (CW, Mondays, 9-10 p.m. ET)
Resumes April 14, 6 new episodes

"Reaper," (CW, Tuesdays, 8-9 p.m. ET)
Resumes April 22, 5 new episodes

"Rules of Engagement," (CBS, Mondays, 9:30-10 p.m. ET)
Resumes April 14, 6 new episodes

"Samantha Who?" (ABC, Mondays, 9:30-10:00 p.m., ET)
Resumes April 7, 6 new episodes
"Scrubs" (NBC, Thursdays, 9:30-10 p.m. ET)
Resumes April 10

"Shark," (CBS, Sundays, 9-10 p.m. ET)
TBA, 4 new episodes

"Smallville," (CW, Thursdays, 8-9 p.m. ET)
Resumes April 17, 5 new episodes

"Supernatural," (CW, Thursdays, 9-10 p.m. ET)
Resumes April 24, 4 new episodes

Ugly Betty" (ABC, Thursdays, 8:00-9:00 p.m., ET)
Resumes April 24th. 5 new episodes episodes.

"Without a Trace," (CBS Thursdays, 10-11 p.m. ET)
Resumes April 3, 6 new episodes

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Street Kings poster plus comments from Forest Whitaker about the film.

Fox has released the poster for Street Kings (formally known as The Night Watchman).

Iconic author James Ellroy (Black Dahlia, L.A. Confidential) penned the script, with David Ayer handling directing duties. Ayer previously directed Harsh Times as well as having written the screenplays for Training Day and The Fast and the Furious.

The cast is a pretty strong one, with Forrest Whitaker, Keanu Reeves, Hugh Laurie, Common, The Game, Chris Evans and Cedric the Entertainer.

Foxspotlight.com also has a promo page for it.

Dark Horizons interviewed Whitaker for his film Vantage Point. In it, he talked about the film and his role in it. The portion about Street Kings is below, but be warned, it does contain SPOILERS. For more on Forest and his various projects, click on the link above and read the entire interview.

You have been warned!



Whitaker: Yeah. I play, like, the - kind of like, almost like the godfather of, like, the corrupt cops in Los--LAPD.

Question: We don't get to see the dark side of you very often.

Whitaker: This was kind of cool.

Question: What do you tap into to bring out the dark side of you?

Whitaker: I - have duality, too. I've got things that are dark. But I think - now I realize that I don't even have to have those things in me. I can just, like, imagine them enough, and they come inside.

Question: Oh, really?

Whitaker: Yeah. I don't think - I feel like you can access anything now. You know? Like, anything you could do.

Question: Do you talk to any cops in preparation for that?

Whitaker: I've played so many cops before. I mean, I had been - you know, yeah. I mean, I read some books and went through a couple of things. And - we went to a shooting range. But I've been to so many shooting ranges, played so many cops. You know. And it's not like - it's not like they're gonna be able to, like, get deep into the corruption part of it, you know? It's a hard core film. I just saw it two days ago.

Question: Is it tough?

Whitaker: Oh, yeah. Keanu's really, really excellent in it. He plays, like, the enforcer. He's like, my guy I send out to - to destroy people and stuff. and ultimately it's about his awakening.

Question: So there are no really good characters in this. Although he develops into a -

Whitaker: You know what's interesting? I don't know if he develops into a good character. But his eyes are open. But even once his eyes are opened, he realizes that his eyes have been closed. Even when he, like, is opening his eyes to me, he realizes at the end that his eyes have been closed to the person who's against me. You know?

Question: Bill Hurt says there's no such thing really as straight good and evil. That they're all characters.

Whitaker: What did he say?

Question: There's no sort of bad - good and bad. That it's conflicted. He used the word conflicted a lot.

Whitaker: Yeah. I agree with him. Because I think that even the character I played in Street Kings, he really feels like he's doing something good for the people around him. Like, at the end, he's - it's this long conversation with Keanu where he's like, saying to him, he says, "What do you think is gonna - who's paying for - you know, this guy's surgery? Who's paying for his retirement? Who's - you know. Who wouldn't do this? Take care of the people they love?"

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Shutter Isla...Asheclif...Shutter Island release date announced.

Paramount has announced a release date for whatever the hell they end up calling the film based on the Dennis Lehane novel that is called Shutter Island.

It was Shutter Island, then it was Ashecliffe (named after the asylum on Shutter Island) and now it appears to be Shutter Island once more.

Regardless of the name, it will be released on Oct 2nd, 2009.

Read more about the film.

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Indiana Jones teaser trailer is online!

I am now as giddy as a schoolgirl.

Half of the trailer is simply shots of the first three films, but what we do see of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull does look fun.

It opens on May 22nd.

Check out the trailer.

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DVD Review: Gone Baby Gone

Affleck’s choice for his directorial debut is somewhat surprising and yet makes sense at the same time. On the one hand, he is adapting the work of an author whose material has already produced a modern classic crime drama (Mystic River) so the bar is already set fairly high. To make things even riskier, he cast his brother in the role of the headstrong protagonist. Few, other than Ben, saw Casey as leading man material.

Yet the story is set in a Boston, which he is clearly familiar with, and it is that familiarity that drew him to it. This production was sort of a homecoming for the director.

It turns out that Affleck’s instincts were correct on all counts; his directorial debut delivers the goods. His choice of lighting and the types of shots he used emphasize and accentuate the blue collar grit of this Boston. We have all heard about setting being a character and this is certainly true here.

Affleck not only directs, but also co-wrote the screenplay with his childhood friend Aaron Stockard. It is not Ben’s first time doing this, as he won an Oscar (with Matt Damon) for Good Will Hunting.

Based on the Dennis Lehane novel of the same name, GBG tells the story of a pair of Boston private eyes and their search for a missing child. The mother leaves the child alone while she goes out for some fun. When she returns home, her four year old daughter is missing from her bed. While the cops are doing all they can, the girl's aunt turns to Patrick (Casey) and Angie (Michelle Monagahan), a pair of neighborhood private investigators. She hopes the locals might talk more to them than the police. This search leads them into the drug world as well as that of pedophiles and questionable cops.


The performances are uniformly good. While I expected no less Morgan Freeman and Ed Harris (Thought Mr. Harris seemed to occasionally confuse intensity with loudness), a couple of folks really stepped up and delivered. Casey Affleck, in particular, surprised me. My previous encounters with him were in the Ocean films (Ocean's 11 and whatnot) in which he played a fairly amusing goofball. Here he leaves all that behind with a performance that should erase any doubts folks might have about his ability to play a dramatic leading role. While his Patrick is not the one I envisioned, it works just fine. The film does not go overboard to convey the hardness of his character, but there are a couple of scenes where Patrick is backed into a corner that show us he is not someone to be crossed. His performance is understated yet powerful.

I know Amy Ryan only for her role on season two of The Wire. Here, as the mother of the missing child, she is a tour de force. Her performance has earned her an Oscar nomination as well as over a dozen smaller awards.

The fine acting does not stop at the top; most of the lesser characters (the various lowlife scumbags and neighborhood losers) are well defined and nicely played. These well-done minor characters give the film an extra touch of realism.

Anyone looking for a popcorn thriller or run of the mill cop flick might want to skip this movie. Yes, there is a crime but GBG is more about morality and the choices we make in life. It points out that not everything is as simple as right or wrong, and that all of our decisions have consequences. The moral complexity of the script is extremely impressive.

One especially powerful scene finds Patrick giving in to his emotions and killing a pedophile. The police and even Angie praise him, but his own conscience torments him.

Are good intentions enough?

As a big fan of the book, I was both curious and apprehensive about how the film would differ from the source material. While there are some very noticeable changes (mainly in characters), none of them hurt the story and some likely aided in the transition to screen. Overall, Affleck has stayed faithful to the spirit of the book, including the ending.

The ending remains controversial, and is one that will likely have viewers disagreeing as to whether or not it was the right choice given the circumstances. Nobody is going to walk out of this film with a spring in their step or a smile on their face. Frankly, any movie that provokes thought or evokes a strong emotional response is one step above most.

For extras, we get a commentary track with Ben and co-writer Aaron Stoddard. One thing that is very clear is that Ben is very hard on himself when it comes to his career. He repeated points out mistakes he made or how he could have done something better. Dude, you made a good film. Be happy with it!

Also of interest for fans of the book will be the talk of the book and how they fought to make sure the story and narrative was clear enough for filmgoers without sacrificing the subtlety of the Lehane’s novel. It is very clear that BA took the task of adapting the novel very seriously. As a fan of books in general, it is refreshing to see them treated as something more than simply source material.

Also included are a couple of featurettes and some deleted scenes. Of note are some scenes show more chemistry between Patrick and Angie. The “alternate ending” is nothing special. It features minor changes.

Overall, GBG is a very good film. The acting is constantly strong and the feel is very blue collar. It would have been all too easy to gloss this up, but Affleck stayed loyal to both the novel and his childhood community. For that, we can all be thankful because it is a big part of what makes this film so damn good.

Order Gone Baby Gone from Amazon.

Jeremy Lynch
For more reviews from myself, and the rest of the Crimespree crew, check out the index of reviews.

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DVD Review: Emergency! season four

Watching this 1970’s action/drama series is like visting with old friends. Kevin Tighe and the impossibly skinny Randoph Mantooth return as paramedic partners Roy DeSoto and Johnny Gage in this 1970’s Jack Webb produced action/drama. There were almost no casting changes during the series entire seven-year run so we got to know these characters as well as we knew our mom’s goulash: Johnny, always the lovable doofus who fancies himself a man of the world; Roy, the steady family man who was constantly shaking his head at his partner’s flights of illogic; Chet Kelly (Tim Donovan), the station clown and practical joker; Captain Hank Stanley (Mike Norrell), easy-going by nature but still commanding respect from his men. At Rampart General Hospital, sultry head-nurse, Dixie McCall (Julie London), does all the real work while bold, young Dr Brackett (Robert Fuller) sometimes rubs his patients the wrong way and kindly Dr Joe Early (Bobby Troup) smoothes things over.

Though some of the dialog at the station is a bit dated (like Chet Kelly calling women “chicks”) the close-up view of the life of a rescue-man still fascinates. People do get themselves into some strange and harrowing predicaments and the men of station 51 must think on their feet to extricate them. In one episode, Johnny and Roy hang from the side of a building in a high wind to rescue an unconscious worker who was injured when the heavy marquee he was trying to hang, breaks loose and crushes him. The firemen must figure out how to get to the man without being smashed by the wildly-swinging sign. In another, a woman is thrown from her motorcycle and has the good fortune to land in a patch of nice, soft cactus. How do Johnny and Roy free the woman without bringing the entire patch of cactus down on her and themselves? And how
do they deal with the woman’s husband, constantly yelling at her to stop screaming?

One thing you will miss in Season Four: they replaced the cool, jazzy theme song with sound bites of the paramedic’s radio conversations with the hospital. It would be one thing if they changed the dialog week to week, but it’s always the same thing: “Rampart, the victim is in EXTREME PAIN.” No more “Dah dah dada DAAH DAH, dah dah dada DAAAAAH dah, dah dah
dada DAAAAAAAAAAH dah dada dah dahhhhhh!” (I realize that last sentence won’t make any sense to you if you’ve never heard the theme song but real fans of the series will get a pleasant whoosh-memory from it.)

Unfortunately, only die-hard fans will truly enjoy this release. Apparently Universal HomeEntertainment didn’t think Emergency! would make them enough money on DVD to justify spending any money on this compilation. The sound quality in many episodes is poor. I was constantly fiddling with the volume in order to hear the dialog. Then I would have to dive for the remote again to turn it down for the exciting driving-through-the-streets-with-the-siren-blaring sequences. There are also no cool extras. Universal should shell out some cash to get Randy Mantooth and Kev Tighe into the studio for some commentary. And commentary from Julie London and Bobby Troup could be quite dishy. London was producer Jack Webb’s ex-wife and was married to Troup throughout the run of the series. Unfortunately, Julie and Bobby are dead so Universal has completely missed that boat.

I sent an email to Universal Home Entertainment about the quality of the release and the lack of extras. If you bought this set and would like to contact them, here is their website:
http://homevideo.universalstudios.com/home_ent_content.html

Order Emergency season 4 from Amazon.

Naomi Krueger

For more reviews from Naomi, and the rest of the Crimespree crew, check out the index of reviews.

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Trailer for Street Kings (AKA The Night Watchman) is online.

Yahoo has a trailer for Steet Kings (Formally The Night Watchman).

It is interesting in that I know what it is about, but would never have figured it out from the trailer. Street Kings is about corruption in the police department, yet the trailer is cut to make it look like a more urban film about gang violence.

Of course there have been so many different scripts for this, that it could indeed have completely changed since I read it.

For more info on Street Kings, read our past coverage.

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Coen Brothers to tackle Chabon.

Ethan and Joel Coen will be tackling Yiddish-noir. No, this is not the name of a new short story collection, but rather the general flavor of Pulitzer Prize winner Michael Chabon’s bestselling novel “The Yiddish Policemen’s Union.”

"For sixty years, Jewish refugees and their descendants have prospered in the Federal District of Sitka, a "temporary" safe haven created in the wake of revelations of the Holocaust and the shocking 1948 collapse of the fledgling state of Israel. Proud, grateful, and longing to be American, the Jews of the Sitka District have created their own little world in the Alaskan panhandle, a vibrant, gritty, soulful, and complex frontier city that moves to the music of Yiddish. For sixty years they have been left alone, neglected and half-forgotten in a backwater of history. Now the District is set to revert to Alaskan control, and their dream is coming to an end: once again the tides of history threaten to sweep them up and carry them off into the unknown.

But homicide detective Meyer Landsman of the District Police has enough problems without worrying about the upcoming Reversion. His life is a shambles, his marriage a wreck, his career a disaster. He and his half-Tlingit partner, Berko Shemets, can't catch a break in any of their outstanding cases. Landsman's new supervisor is the love of his life—and also his worst nightmare. And in the cheap hotel where he has washed up, someone has just committed a murder—right under Landsman's nose. Out of habit, obligation, and a mysterious sense that it somehow offers him a shot at redeeming himself, Landsman begins to investigate the killing of his neighbor, a former chess prodigy. But when word comes down from on high that the case is to be dropped immediately, Landsman soon finds himself contending with all the powerful forces of faith, obsession, hopefulness, evil, and salvation that are his heritage—and with the unfinished business of his marriage to Bina Gelbfish, the one person who understands his darkest fears."

The brothers are currently doing post-production work on Burn Before Reading, and will shoot A Serious Man before tackling Chabon’s work. Production would not start before2009.

The Coen Brothers are known for their offbeat films including Fargo, Miller’s Crossing, Raising Arizona and their current commercial and critical juggernaut No Country for Old Men. NCfOM is up for eight Oscars and has won awards from the Writer’s Guide of America, the Screen Actor’s Guide and the Director’s Guide as well as dozens of others.

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DVD Review: Lovejoy season 2

If you are unfamiliar with this show, Lovejoy (Ian McShane) is a charming, rather scruffy antiques dealer with a sixth sense (A Person with this sense is known as “divvy”.) for the genuine articles. One would think that a person with this skill would be successful and quite rich. Sadly, this is not the case for Lovejoy (No Mr., just Lovejoy). His strong sense of right and wrong, along with his fondness for the ladies, not only keeps his coffers just shy of empty, but also tend to land him in questionable situations. Because of said situations, the police always have an eye on him and are quick to haul him in when something is stolen.

Not that Lovejoy is a criminal. While he is not above creating replicas of antiques, it is almost always to swindle those that swindled others.

Assisting in (and sometimes getting him into) these adventures are Tinker Dill (Dudley Sutton), an older expert on antiques with more than a little love for alcohol, Eric Catchpole (Chris Jury), his apprentice whose main job is chauffeuring Lovejoy around and running errands for him, and Lady Jane Felsham (Phyllis Logan), a lovely local member of the aristocracy. The chemistry between Lovejoy and Lady Jane is powerful but, much to Lovejoy’s frustration, they remain merely good friends.

Season two hit the airwaves a full five years after the first. Not sure why, since the first season did quite well.

As season two starts, Lovejoy is just getting out of an eight-month stint in prison. He was the victim of a set up that was orchestrated by a rather (surprise, surprise) lovely lady. Lovejoy tracks her down, and those that were in cahoots with her, and extracts his own brand of vengeance (a little coin for his troubles).

Season two has all of the charm of season one. The time off did little to hurt that, as everyone seems to step right back into the rhythm of the show. Each episode is a tale by itself, with each caper being wrapped up by the end of the hour.

Most of the tales are solid, capers of a light-hearted nature. But you don’t watch the show (or at least I don’t) for the stories. You watch it for the characters and the fantastic chemistry between them. Everyone seems to know their role and is very comfortable with it.

For extras, we get a couple of interviews with Ian McShane. One is the second part of a 2004 interview that started on the season one package. The second is from 1991 and was for a British show called Scene Today. This is an especially fun and certainly is worth watching.

I first caught Lovejoy on A&E back in the early 90s and was a big fan. The years have not made it any less enjoyable. If you like mystery shows with a light-hearted touch, you can’t go wrong with Lovejoy.

Order season 2 of Lovejoy from Amazon.

Jeremy Lynch

For more reviews from myself, and the rest of the Crimespree crew, check out the index of reviews.

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R.I.P. Roy Scheider

Actor Roy Scheider passed away Sunday at the University of Arkansas Medical Sciences hospital in Little Rock. He was 75. The cause of death was complications arising from a Staph infection.

RS was best known as Chief Brody in JAWS, a role for which he was not the first choice. The role had initially been offered to Charlton Heston.

Perhaps his most famous line from the movie, "You're gonna need a bigger boat" was actually not scripted, but adlibbed by Scheider. That line was, in 2005, landed the No. spot 35 on the American Film Institute's list of best quotes from U.S. movies.

During his long career, RS netted two Oscar nominations, a best actor nod for 1979’s All That Jazz (Also a role he was not the first choice for, his Jaws co-star Richard Dreyfuss was originally slated to play Joe Gideon) and one for best supporting actor for 1971’s The French Connection in which he played the partner of Oscar winner Gene Hackman’s Popeye Doyle.

His career included theater work as well as 65 films including 2010, Marathon Man, Jaws 2, 52 Pick-up and The Rainmaker.

He also starred, on NBC, in Seaquest 2032 from 1993-95.

Throughout his life, Scheider was politically active and, in recent years, had participated in numerous rallies against the U.S. war in Iraq.

His final film was Iron Cross, which is currently in post production and is expected to be released later this year.

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When will your fav show return?

This list comes from TV Guide, so kudos to them for putting it together. It appears that, for many of the shows, the season is pretty much over and that new episodes will be used in the fall.

24
Expected to return this fall or January '09.

30 Rock
Expected to shoot 5 to 10 new episodes to air in April/May.

Back to You
Two pre-strike episodes remain. Future TBD*.

Bionic Woman
No new episodes expected. Ever.

The Big Bang Theory
Expected to shoot 5 to 7 new episodes to air in April/May.

Big Love
Expected to go into production on Season 3 in March. Airdate info is TBD.

Bones
Four pre-strike episodes left. Unclear whether additional episodes will be produced for this season.

Brothers & Sisters
Expected to shoot 4 or 5 new episodes to air in April/May.

Chuck
No new episodes until fall.

Cold Case
Expected to shoot 4 to 7 new episodes to air in April/May.

Criminal Minds
Expected to shoot 4 to 7 new episodes to air in April/May.

CSI
Expected to shoot 4 to 7 new episodes to air in April/May.

CSI: Miami
Expected to shoot 4 to 7 new episodes to air in April/May.

CSI: NY
Expected to shoot 4 to 7 new episodes to air in April/May.

Desperate Housewives
Expected to shoot 4 or 5 new episodes to air in April/May.

Dirty Sexy Money
No new episodes planned until fall; three remaining pre-strike episodes will undergo some tweaking and kick off fall run.

ER
TBD.

Everybody Hates Chris
Twelve pre-strike episodes remain. No additional episodes expected for this season.

Friday Night Lights
No new episodes expected for this season. Future TBD.

Gossip Girl
Expected to shoot up to 9 new episodes to air in April/May/June.

Greek
Kicks off second half of Season 1 on March 24. Still awaiting Season 2 pickup.

Grey's Anatomy
Expected to shoot 4 or 5 new episodes to air in April/May

Heroes
TBD.

House
Expected to shoot 4 to 6 new episodes to air in April/May.

How I Met Your Mother
Expected to shoot 5 to 7 new episodes to air in April/May.

Jericho
Seven episodes remain. No additional episodes expected for this season.

Las Vegas
Two pre-strike episodes remain. No additional episodes expected for this season.

Law & Order: SVU
TBD.

Life
No new episodes expected until fall.

Life Is Wild
No new episodes expected. Ever.

Lost
Six pre-strike episodes remain. Six additional episodes could air this season.

Medium
Six pre-strike episodes remain. No additional episodes expected this season.

Men in Trees
Eleven pre-strike episodes remain. No additional episodes expected this season.

Moonlight
No new episodes expected until fall.

My Name Is Earl
Expected to shoot 8 to 10 new episodes to air in April/May.

NCIS
Expected to shoot 5 to 7 new episodes, only three of which may air this season.

The New Adventures of Old Christine
Seven pre-strike episodes remain. No additional episodes expected this season.

Nip/Tuck
Season 5 concludes Feb. 19. Production on the show's eight-episode sixth season expected to start up this summer. Airdate TBD.

Numbers
Expected to shoot 5 to 7 new episodes, only three of which may air this season.

October Road
Five pre-strike episodes remain. Future beyond that TBD.

The Office
Expected to shoot 5 to 10 new episodes to air in April/May.

One Tree Hill
Six pre-strike episodes remain. Future beyond that TBD.

Prison Break
Two pre-strike episodes remain. Future beyond that TBD.

Private Practice
Expected to shoot 4 or 5 new episodes to air in April/May.

Pushing Daisies
No new episodes until fall.

Reaper
Three pre-strike episodes remain. Future beyond that TBD.

Samantha Who?
Three remaining pre-strike episodes could possibly surface this season, or be held until fall (see Dirty Sexy Money).

Saturday Night Live
Could be back on the air as early as Feb. 16.

Scrubs
Four pre-strike episodes remain. Four additional episodes will likely be shot; unclear whether they'll air on NBC or go straight to DVD.

Smallville
Four pre-strike episodes remain. Expected to shoot 3 to 5 additional episodes to air in April/May.

Supernatural
Two pre-strike episodes remain. Expected to shoot 3 to 5 additional episodes to air in April/May.

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles
Five pre-strike episodes remain. Future beyond that TBD.

Two and a Half Men
Expected to shoot 5 to 7 new episodes to air in April/May.

Ugly Betty
Expected to shoot 4 or 5 new episodes to air in April/May.

Without a Trace
Expected to shoot 4 to 7 new episodes to air in April/May.

Women's Murder Club
No additional episodes expected for this season. Future TBD, although one Club member admits, "We're terrified that it's over for us."

* TBD = To be determined

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Preview for tonight's episode of The Wire.

Episode #56: "The Dickensian Aspect"
Debut: SUNDAY, FEB. 10 (9:00-10:00 p.m.)
Other HBO playdates: Feb. 10 (10:30 p.m.), 12 (2:40 a.m.), 13 (11:00 p.m.), 14 (10:00 p.m.) and 15 (8:00 p.m.)
HBO2 playdates: Feb. 11 (10:00 p.m.) and 18 (8:00 p.m.)

Mystified by Omar's disappearance, Marlo and Chris (Gbenga Akinnagbe) ramp up their efforts to locate their nemesis.

After attending a sparsely attended waterfront ceremony, Carcetti (Aidan Gillen) fires away at a larger press event - and recasts himself as a champion for the homeless.

Bunk (Wendell Pierce) revisits some old leads in the rowhouse cases, but is frustrated in his attempts to get bloodwork from the crime lab.

Templeton looks for a perfect follow-up to his latest, nationally covered story, which has replaced the city's educational crisis on the paper's priority list.

After the detail gets more manpower, Freamon (Clarke Peters) presses McNulty to get new surveillance equipment, but the resources aren't as deep as both hoped.

Pearlman (Deirdre Lovejoy) discovers new clues pointing to corruption in City Hall.

Marlo makes new appointments at the latest co-op meeting.

McNulty takes a peculiar interest in a homeless man.

Teleplay by Ed Burns; story by David Simon & Ed Burns; directed by Seith Mann.

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The Wire gets some love from the WGA.

The Writers Guild of America showed some love to the best show on television.

The Wire picked the award for Best Dramatic series. Congrats to the cast and crew.

No Country for Old Men picked up the award for Best Adapted Screenplay. NCfOM is also nominated for eight Oscars and is closing in on one hundred awards won.

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New featurette for Indiana Jones online.

Indianajones.com has a new featurette online. Now don't get too excited, it is not loaded with footage of the new movie. No, it is a look at the hat and jacket that have become synonomous with Dr. Jones.

Check it out.

For those of you that are dying to see a trailer for the upcoming Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, it will be debuting next Friday with The Spiderwick Chronicles.

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DVD Review: Rough Diamond

Rough Diamond (Acorn Media) aired in England as Diamond Geezer, a title I feel they should have kept, but knowing how phobic we in the US are about age I understand the change. The series contains four episodes, runs just under five hours, and stars David Jason (Sir David Jason to be precise) as the aforementioned geezer, criminal mastermind.

The pilot episode finds the hero(?) Des, a limping, stuttering simplton, in prison working as the tea boy and being abused or pretty much ignored. This is the starkest in the series--and maybe the best storywise-- although not necessarily the one I enjoyed most. It gradually comes to light that he neither limps nor stutters and is anything but simple. He's using prison as an airtight alibi for a robbery he's planning. A big honkin' heist of ten million or so in diamonds.

The last three are more cinematic in that they had prettier things to film than a prision and convicts, i.e. the south of France and the better parts of London. I had no idea what I was getting into in this series and was very plesantly surprised at how much I enjoyed it. The stories are well done and complex and the players are quite good. My small complaints, and they are small, is that they decided to go a bit Robin Hood with the character--I prefered him as a scaliwag; and a speeded up action sequence ala Benny Hill and all kung fu movies. It was in fact a martial arts moment but I found it distracting. Still this is good entertainment and when they release more it would take no convincing to get me to watch it again.

The specials are a bit thin: written interviews and filmographies.

Order Rough Diamond from Amazon.

Lee Crawford

For more reviews from Lee, and the rest of the Crimespree crew, check out the index of reviews.

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And the new voice of KITT is...

Val Kilmer.

Variety is reporting that Val Kilmer will be replacing Will Arnett as the voice of KITT on the upcoming Knight Rider series.

It seems that Arnett does voice-over work for General Motors, while KITT is being played by a Ford Mustang. In addition, Ford will have a major promotional relationship with Knight Rider.

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Night Watchman is now Street Kings.

The Night Watchman has a new name: Street Kings. My guess, and this is only a guess, is that it was done to avoid confusion with The Watchmen.

Iconic author James Ellroy (Black Dahlia, L.A. Confidential) penned the script, with David Ayer handling directing duties. Ayer previously directed Harsh Times as well as having written the screenplays for Training Day and The Fast and the Furious.

"Keanu Reeves is Tom Ludlow, a veteran LAPD Vice Detective. Ludlow sets out on a quest to discover the killers of his former partner, Detective Terrance Washington (Terry Crews). Forest Whitaker plays Captain Wander, Ludlo's supervisor, whose duties include keeping him within the confines of the law and out of the clutches of Internal Affairs Captain Biggs (Hugh Laurie). Ludlow teams up with a young Robbery Homicide Detective (Chris Evans) to track Washington's killers through the diverse communities of Los Angeles. Their determination pays off when the two Detectives track down Washington's murderers and confront them in an attempt to bring them to justice."

For more info on The Night Watchman, read our previous posts.

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DVD Review: An Affair to Remember

Once upon a time Leo McCarey made a movie. It did very well. 18 years later he remade it, and it did even better. 37 years later it was remade again ...and sucked. I guess I can't really say it sucked, I never watched, but I heard bad things [editor's note: yes, it sucked]. It went: Love Affair (1939) Irene Dunne, Charles Boyer; An Affair to Remember (1957) Cary Grant, Deborah Kerr; Love Affair (1994) Warren Beatty, Annette Bening.

(Oddly enough Cary Grant and Irene Dunne did a couple cookie cutter "Romantic Comedies" together. Movies that were basically the same: guy and girl, same girl and other guy, first guy and other girl, first guy and first girl cannot live without each other, the end [or Fin]. They just changed the circumstances a little bit.)

For the original remake Leo McCarey got Cary Grant. Ah, Cary Grant. Cary Grant can make even the fluffiest tear-jerker good. Well, except Penny Serenade (also starring Cary Grant and Irene Dunne. See Above), which wasn't so much a fluffy tear-jerker, as much as it was a "depressing, stab you in the heart, confirmation that the humanity is doomed, so what's the point in trying"-er. I felt like the writers said, "Hmm. This isn't depressing enough; what else can we heap on this poor couple?" Think of a summer Hollywood action movie where each stunt and/or explosion is more spectacular than the last; now replace stunts and/or explosions with depression.

BUT this is about An Affair to Remember, and not Penny Serenade. The first half of An Affair to Remember is actually a pretty good romantic comedy. The second half Is actually pretty damn good too. Is it a chick movie? Heck yeah. But a chick movie with Cary Grant in it.
The story goes: Grant and Debrah Kerr meet on a boat ride to America, where they are both set to marry their respective significant others, and fall in love (with each other). Lamn the duck! Wait I mean, damn the luck. Blah, blah, then something happens. There is laughing, there is crying (not necessarily in that order).

The new release has several good bio-mentaries on the the two leads, the director, and the movie itself. I say go buy it, if you like Cary Grant or good love stories. If you don't like Cary Grant, go buy Arsenic and Old Lace, North By Northwest, His Girl Friday, To Catch a Thief and The Philadelphia Story. If you still don't like him after watching those, you need to go to the doctor and make sure you're still alive. (As Groucho Marx said: "Who are you going to believe, me or your own eyes?!").

Randy Otteson
For more reviews from Randy, and the rest of the Crimespree crew, check out the index of reviews.

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Wanna see a crystal skull?

The site Movieweb has a picture of the Crystal Skull from the forthcoming Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

Very cool.

Update: Apparently the studio is unhappy with images getting out, as the image from Movieweb has been pulled.

But here is another from Action Figure insider:

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Preview for tonight's episode of The Wire.

Episode #55: "React Quotes"
Debut: SUNDAY, FEB. 3 (9:00-10:00 p.m. ET/PT)
Other HBO playdates: Feb. 3 (10:30 p.m.), 5 (2:50 a.m.), 6 (midnight), 7 (10:00 p.m.) and 8 (8:00 p.m.)
HBO2 playdates: Feb. 4 (10:00 p.m.) and 11 (9:00 p.m.)

Marlo (Jamie Hector) forges an alliance with a drug connect, who shows him a new communications trick. McNulty's (Dominic West) case gets increased attention from the newspaper, in large part thanks to the addition of Templeton (Tom McCarthy) to the reporting team. Dukie (Jermaine Crawford) turns to Cutty (Chad L. Coleman) and Michael (Tristan Wilds) to hone his self-defense skills; Clay Davis (Isiah Whitlock, Jr.) finds a new ally; Bond (Dion Graham) raises his public profile; Levy (Michael Kostroff) and Herc (Domenick Lombardozzi) prepare for litigation; Elena (Callie Thorne) confronts McNulty about his behavior; Bubbles (Andre Royo) fears new opportunities; Greggs (Sonja Sohn) gets some overtime work. Omar (Michael Kenneth Williams) shows patience as Marlo throws out his bait.

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