GLAM GOD (VH1)
This is VH1’s non-trashy entry in sort of the Bravo/Project Runway mold and it really succeeds in ways that probably confounded even VH1 execs. It’s that different and it’s that good. 12 up and coming fashion stylists compete to win the overall competition which includes various style challenges and tons of in-fighting. There is also $100,000.00 in it for the final stylist standing. It’s no secret that I have a favorite in the race, so reviewing this seems pointless. All I could say is that I went to the premiere Thursday night at The Trocadero on Sunset – it was super fun, there was lots of press and I could not have been prouder of JZ. I couldn’t really see the show because of the insane crowd at this party but I watched it at home on the DVR – I think not only does VH1 have a major winner here, but J. is thus far the most dynamic character in the show. She practically narrates it as they go to her every five minutes for testimonials to explain what we’ve just seen. The DIGITAL COUCH is very proud of Jess Zaino and predicts that she goes very far in this competition – hoping she walks away with the win, but either way – this is a fun, crazy, insanely creative show about truly eccentric young stylists and I highly recommend GLAM GOD to all readers of this blog.
Further, if you want to support JESS ZAINO, huge friend to this blog, very special friend to this blogger – join her FRIENDS OF VH1 page. It takes 5 minutes, it’s a fun site and it helps Jess:
www.famousvh1friends.com/personality/74744/jess-zaino
Let's support Jess on the show by both watching the new eps (every Thu on VH1 at 10 and 11) and then they repeat the thing all week long. You can also help her by joining the website – again – it takes less than 5 minutes. And if anyone was going to cut up a Vera Wang dress to make a t-shirt – I could’ve told before they started that it would’ve been Jess.
Which also leads to the half hour VH1 lead-in:
THE CHO SHOW (VH1)
Margaret Cho is a funny woman, but this WAY overly scripted show displays Cho as vaguely pathetic in both her need for attention and her delusional view of who she is in show biz. That said - it's still somehow watchable because Cho actually does possess some genuine star quality. But there is something very seemingly sad about Cho and her posse. I think she still thinks it’s the early 90s.
Grade: C –
For a SUPERB Elton John interview from the late 70s, go to WOLFGANG’S GREAT WEB SITE and listen to it for free here:
http://concerts.wolfgangsvault.com/player.aspx?ConcertID=20051219|2163
This is a very quick sign up and it has thousands of hours of unbelievable concerts. From almost everybody and it’s all free. This is a GREAT site – but check out this Elton interview.
Here is the accompying 1986 (years later) concert that came with the interview –
http://concerts.wolfgangsvault.com/dt/elton-john-concert/20052475-2163.html?utm_source=NL&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=088020
For a HILARIOUS blog that actually REVIEWS ANIMALS with letter grades – and some of the wittiest writing on the web, go here for the most original blog I’ve seen in years:
http://animalreview.wordpress.com/
SECRET DIARY OF A CALL GIRL (SHOWTIME)
I didn’t love this show when it debuted, I liked it less and less every week, and now that I’ve seen the season finale, I will say this – if you’re going to do a show about prostitutes, don’t present it as the greatest job in the world. The lead was kind of hot and some of the situations were okay, but mostly this was an exercise in banality. Even the ep where Bella had the “scary” client was hardly scary or tension filled. This is a gritty nightmare of a job dressed up as a fairy tale – and despite being well produced, it just didn’t work. I never once thought I was watching the life of a prostitute – and that’s the premise of the show – so something was off.
Grade: C -
WEEDS (SHOWTIME)
Is really good right now. I’m a few eps behind, but I still find the weed-dealing clan very compelling.
Grade: A
THE TWO COREYS (A&E)
Came to an end with Haim increasingly out of control with drugs and anger and culminates with Haim driving his truck through the front of a home of some neighbors. Haim claimed the tires were fucked and that he fishtailed – but he was slurring his words and he was out of it. Haim continued to appear high as all kinds of major problems in his life resurfaced and ultimately he seemed to just want a final talk with Feldman. He claimed he didn’t like how they ended their relationship and wanted Feldman to be at his house at a certain time for a final hug. talk with Feldman to have a hug before they went their separate ways – Feldman refused. I don’t blame him, and wish Haim all the prayers in the world to get his shit together. I watched a few minutes of LUCAS the other day and was reminded of what a find actor he could’ve been. Now he just needs to get his life together. Bravo to A & E for taking such an overly scripted show from last season and turning it into one of the better offerings of the season. And heartbreaking.
Grade: A
SCARY MOVIE 4 (MAX)
I watched the first 10 minutes of this and can report it was utterly worthless with the sense of humor of an 8 year old boy who has lived in the woods his whole life and never saw any signs of wit in his life.
Grade: F
THE DEWEY COX STORY (DVD)
This has to be the most underappreciated comedy of the year. This is a Judd Apatow produced comedy based on the classic rocker bios, like I WALK THE LINE, GREAT BALLS OF FIRE and countless other classic rock bios. This film not only nails all the cliché’s I didn’t even know were clichés – but they have a really compelling story – they have jokes in here that are instant classics. Ghere’s a scene of Dewey with his band after some shenanigans that have gone on in his hotel room that is one of the funniest things I’ve seen. There’s a series of scenes involving Dewey’s drug journey that always has him and Tim Meadows in the scene. It’s such a great running gag. The extras are awesome and the main disc comes with 2 versions of the movie – pick the director’s longer cut – it’s hilarious. One of the best things about the film is that through all the satire, it achieves a real sentimentality for Dewey that we happily buy into due to John C. Reilly’s note perfect performance. And he can really sing.
Grade: A +
THE DEWEY COX SOUNDTRACK (CD)
Special mention to the soundtrack, which has a few songs that don’t appear in the movie. WALK HARD is actually a solid song, LETS DUETTE is a hilarious instant classic and MIDGET MAN is as hilarious as IT’S A LONG RIDE is downright sentimental and all the songs are done beautifully by John C. Reilly. The songs are on the humorous side – but it all just really works well.
Grade: A
RUNNING WITH SCIZZORS (HBO)
Okay, before I forget – the worst offense this film has done is use Al Stewart’s YEAR OF THE CAT in a horrible montage. This song could’ve been used to great affect some day in some great film or great piece of television – and now it’s in the center of this horrific movie. Okay, on to the review. This is a GREAT book – if you haven’t read it yet I highly recommend you skip this film and go straight to the source. It’s funny – on paper, Ryan Murphy, creator and sometimes director of NIP/TUCK – which had a brilliant first 2 years, an interesting 3rd year, and a 4th and 5th year that sailed right off the rails into insanity. This film had every chance to be great, but it overplays its hand of having us care about these characters by over accenting their eccentricity and not really trying to understand the character underneath. Other than that – it’s just plain sloppy and garish and worst of all – TRYING to be all things to all people – you get the feeling that Murphy thought he was directing his masterpiece but didn’t really see that his portrait was way too fractured and over the top to really resonate on any level but barely comic and pretentious.
Grade: D
ON DEMAND: STERN TV
HOWARD TV: ARTIE’S CONFESSION
For those of you that follow the Stern show, you know that Artie almost had a heart attack over last week’s vacation mixing heroin and Subutext (a narcotic inhibitor which helps addicts fight their addiction – but the drug itself is addicting as well) – and when Art mixed the heroin with the Subutext all within 12 hours – he crashed hard and almost died. He missed a bunch of high profile gigs, including the BOB SAGET COMEDY CENTRAL ROAST and the entire sad episode lead Artie finally into the care of a drug-addict expert therapist and a sort of out-patient therapy rehab to get his addiction under control. He’s been on it for the last few months. His story about what lead to it and how it all came to a head was on of the most frightening things I’d ever heard when he talked about on-air last Monday. On the tv version, they chopped it into a 35 minute synopsis that wasn’t quite as hair raising. For all the times they edit stuff – this is something that the fans wanted in it’s entirety – probably about 105 minutes – but you can still get the gist of the last crazy day before the Bob Saget roast he was supposed to attend in this shortened version.
Grade: RADIO VERSION: A +
HOWARD TV VERSION: B -
HOWARD TV: BOB SAGET
Then came in to talk about his relationship with Artie and how he felt during the roast knowing that Artie was having a meltdown. It made him crazy throughout the roast – he kept texting Artie – he’s very concerned and suspicious about Artie’s “outpatient” status and thinks he should get an intervention and then sent to an in-patient rehab. He came off funny and as a really good guy and friend to Artie. Bob directed Artie and Norm McDonald in DIRTY WORK. (B+) Howard seems to think that Artie is a big boy and doesn’t need people from his work to intervene. It’s an unfolding situation and I didn’t notice much difference between the air version and the radio. The joke that Artie never got to say at the roast was pretty funny – “If you missed Bob’s HBO special, just type in WWW.HBO//INSANELY EMBARRESSING.” To wit, Bob responded with a joke “Instead of keeping an eye on Artie, we’re just going to start constructing a hospital around him.” Still, one needn’t scratch very deep to see that Saget doesn’t have much faith in Artie’s “outpatient” status and thinks Artie needs some serious in-patient help.
Grade: B +
HOWARD TV: WACK PACK BOWLING
For serious fans of the show only who want to see people like Double A bowl. Fred the Elephant boy was on hand, and he’s sort of become the elder statesman of whack packers if there is such a thing. Nicole Bass was there looking seriously bloated but – and I do mean this, seriously feminine. I think when the steroids finally left her body her looks returned to the their original femine form. Again, she’s nothing really to see – but if you remember how manly she used to look at the height of her bodybuilding – she looks like a woman who just needs to get on a diet. It was actually quite surprising. She arguably looks like a woman again. The bowling was fun and it was somewhat jarring to see 20 frames and not one strike. Wow. I thought Scott the Engineer did an excellent job with commentating on the action and I especially loved how he started out with a joke that the guy who was working with him didn’t understand and Scott just had to eat on camera. But he does a fine job describing the action. It would be great if some of them could play – and Jeff the drunk is really just a treasure in every aspect – there is nothing unentertaining about this guy. Howard is still doing what’s worked for him for 30 years – taking people he meets and making stars of them in his corner of the world. Still, for a show that did not include the man himself (Stern) - this was a pretty diverting thirty minutes and his influence was all over it. I’ll be curious to see some of the original programming for Howard TV – but this was a pretty good start.
Grade: B +
HOWARD TV: PRETTIEST GIRL/ UGLIEST SCAR
An okay competition, but the very best moment in this forty minutes or so was the creative meeting – Sal was in there along with Richard, Benji and Fred and they were just throwing out ideas. Gary then suggested this idea of bringing in the hottest girl with the ugliest scar, Howard took it in, didn’t say anything – let the staff sort of build it up a bit before he nodded some small amount of approval pending some of the pictures that came in. That the creative meeting was more interesting than the contest itself – well, the girls were hot and scarred – but watching the creative process was a really rare glimpse into how the Stern show operates. That is something I’d like to see more of on HOWARD TV.
Grade: B +
JD ARM WRESTLE
Watching JD lose at arm wrestling to every woman that walked in the studio was funny, but hardly compelling. Still, JD himself is sort of a compelling figure – someone easy to identify with in that studio. It’s funny – but he seems to really be himself in that studio under Howard and the gang’s absolute battering of him and he seems to have a real sense of humor about it so the segment plays funnier than it has a right to.
Grade: C +
2008/08/15
Glam God is coming - MAD MEN is here!
I keep hearing that GLAM GOD on VH1 – starting the 21st (Thursday) is going to be a great show and a new direction for the VH1 reality boat. Can’t wait.
If you follow the HOWARD STERN SHOW (Sirius Satellite) you know that Artie Lange was in the news during vacation as having missed a bunch of dates (including the coming-up Bob Saget roast on Comedy Central) to enter into an outpatient rehab for his heroin addiction. While the week had tons of speculation as to what was going on – Monday’s radio show answered a lot of questions. Arite admitted that he’d slid back into the addiction about 7 weeks ago (but the timeline in his explanations was very shaky.) His explanation and account of the days leading up to him checking himself in (although he might’ve gone INTO rehab as opposed to outpatient – I think any help is a great start) – but the first 2 hours of Howard’s show on Monday listening to Artie's confessions was so compelling, relatable, real, frightening – maybe the most compelling thing I’ve listened to since the last time Artie had a mishap on the air. He's had some major on-air scrapes in the last 12 months (he threw a CD at Sal's head, he screamed at Howard that they are not "Bros" when Howard tried to set him up with a woman that liked fat guys, he physically attacked Teddy and resigned from the show, he's been nodding off during the show on a regular basis, he misses a show about every other week, the list goes on and on.) THE DIGITAL COUCH wishes Artie recovery from his addiction and hopes that he can pull himself together, beat his demons and stay with the show as Artie on Howard is the best Artie there is. More importantly – show or no show, Artie needs help and while the show would suffer tremendously without his infectious Jersey accent and laugh – whatever Lange needs to get the job done – he should do. But his honesty and his sense of humor about himself are what the STERN show has been about since day 1 and I’m wishing the very best for our very pudgy friend.
PRISON BREAK (Fox)
This was a blast from the past. I had missed the last season due to DVR problems, so catching up was fun – Fox is floating a string of reruns from last year and I’ve sort of dipped back in. Right now they are in a third-world prison and Bellick has become a prison fighting machine with a child molester as his manager. The mythology is getting a bit fuzzy, but this show is constantly reinventing itself and succeeding. William Fitcher remains riveting in his role as the disgraced law man.
Grade: B +
MAD MEN (AMC)
The first 3 episodes of this towering, ingeniously written show have been the event of the summer, and single handedly brought subtlety back to television. Long live this fantastic, moody, show and God Bless Jon Hamm for one of the more aggressive takes on the leading man in ages.
Grade: A +
Next up:
The Hammer
We Own The Night
The Night James Brown Saved Boston
The Dewey Cox Story
If you follow the HOWARD STERN SHOW (Sirius Satellite) you know that Artie Lange was in the news during vacation as having missed a bunch of dates (including the coming-up Bob Saget roast on Comedy Central) to enter into an outpatient rehab for his heroin addiction. While the week had tons of speculation as to what was going on – Monday’s radio show answered a lot of questions. Arite admitted that he’d slid back into the addiction about 7 weeks ago (but the timeline in his explanations was very shaky.) His explanation and account of the days leading up to him checking himself in (although he might’ve gone INTO rehab as opposed to outpatient – I think any help is a great start) – but the first 2 hours of Howard’s show on Monday listening to Artie's confessions was so compelling, relatable, real, frightening – maybe the most compelling thing I’ve listened to since the last time Artie had a mishap on the air. He's had some major on-air scrapes in the last 12 months (he threw a CD at Sal's head, he screamed at Howard that they are not "Bros" when Howard tried to set him up with a woman that liked fat guys, he physically attacked Teddy and resigned from the show, he's been nodding off during the show on a regular basis, he misses a show about every other week, the list goes on and on.) THE DIGITAL COUCH wishes Artie recovery from his addiction and hopes that he can pull himself together, beat his demons and stay with the show as Artie on Howard is the best Artie there is. More importantly – show or no show, Artie needs help and while the show would suffer tremendously without his infectious Jersey accent and laugh – whatever Lange needs to get the job done – he should do. But his honesty and his sense of humor about himself are what the STERN show has been about since day 1 and I’m wishing the very best for our very pudgy friend.
PRISON BREAK (Fox)
This was a blast from the past. I had missed the last season due to DVR problems, so catching up was fun – Fox is floating a string of reruns from last year and I’ve sort of dipped back in. Right now they are in a third-world prison and Bellick has become a prison fighting machine with a child molester as his manager. The mythology is getting a bit fuzzy, but this show is constantly reinventing itself and succeeding. William Fitcher remains riveting in his role as the disgraced law man.
Grade: B +
MAD MEN (AMC)
The first 3 episodes of this towering, ingeniously written show have been the event of the summer, and single handedly brought subtlety back to television. Long live this fantastic, moody, show and God Bless Jon Hamm for one of the more aggressive takes on the leading man in ages.
Grade: A +
Next up:
The Hammer
We Own The Night
The Night James Brown Saved Boston
The Dewey Cox Story
2008/08/08
2008/08/03
Super High Me, American Gangster, Mad Men & The 2 Coreys
This is somewhat half-assed - I had written a bunch of reviews but then lost the file - so - this is what we ended up with this week - me trying to recreate the stale magic of doing this the first time around. I've also been pretty busy this week so - here is this week's half-ass attempt to seem relevant.
AT THE MOVIES (Synd)
I heard that Ebert and Roeper are taking their names away from this and that the show is going in a "different direction." What could that be? They are best at reviewing movies - my prediction: it becomes a fluff piece that promotes the films in a softball way (this is Disney we're talking about) then has psuedo reviews where they show clips and talk to the actors and stuff - just what we didn't need. Long live Ebert, Siskel, Roeper, and the great reviewer A.O. Scott who did many turns on the couch. Not having a weekly movie review program will suck - so I guess for now, the balcony is closed.
HULK HOGAN ON STERN (SIRIUS SATELLITE)
Was great. He was open, funny - everything that Pam Anderson on both Stern and Letterman was not.
THE DARK KNIGHT (IN THEATERS)
No spoilers, but suffice it to say this is a hugely ambitious superhero film - maybe one of the most ambitious ever made. Not entirely, but mostly pretty successful. Heath Ledger is an honest to God revelation in one of his last roles - but we don't get quite enough of the Joker - and there doesn't seem to be a great exit for his character and yes, I know the actor died, but they had wrapped out his shooting long before that. The movie feels over long by about a half hour, and some if it is really uneven - but if you're looking for a dark, murky and complex crime thriller - with the addition of some ass kicking Batman-style movie making - this is pretty damn good. I didn't quite love it the way I thought I might - but I loved it. Mostly.
Grade: A -
FUNNY GAMES (AMERICAN VERSION)
So - I finally took a look at this - after giving an A + to the original. This is virtually a shot for shot remake of the original with the original director - and there are NO extras on this bare-bones but well-shot dvd. Standing in for the originals are Tim Roth and Naomi Watts as the hapless couple and Michael Pitt and another actor I can't quite name take the place of the tormentors. This is virtually the same film - but - and this is what I had anticipated - slightly less violent. The dog scene seems to be missing from the American version, and it seems like they go a little easier with the roughness towards the child in the film. Still, if you haven't seen either and hate subtitles, this is a decent way to go. While Roth and Pitt are terrific in their roles, I don't think Watts comes near the emotional journey that the woman from the original displayed. And I think the original is somehow a bit more artful - but you can't go wrong either way, here. I think you'll end up liking whichever one you see first - but there is no use in seeing them both - if you have to go with one - I'd pick the original. Also, if you are disturbed easily by scenes of implied torture - don't go anywhere near this disturbing film. Either version.
FUNNY GAMES
Original: A +
Remake: A -
SUPER HIGH ME (DVD)
Doug Benson, very funny comic and seemingly on very single VH1 show ever produced, does this comic take off on SUPERSIZE ME - Doug, a bit of a stoner - but not as much of one as we might've expected - doesn't do weed for 30 days, then smokes weed for 30 days. I have to admit - I loved the premise - but once he started smoking I realized that what could've been a smarter more informative and funny docu - had kinda gone up in smoke - couldn't really finish it - had the munchies.
Grade: C -
AMERICAN GANGSTER (DVD)
I chose to watch the 3 hour cut. Very good film, very good acting, and very dissapointing. For everything that's right about this, there's like - 10 things that are wrong. Denzel is great, Russel Crowe is good - his New York accent really doesn't fly here - and the filmaking never really gets into Denzel's character - all supposedly based on a real story. And for a bio film, the movie doesn't feel very convincing. All things considered, well worth renting, just no greatness that we expect from people like Russel Crowed, Denzel and the great director, Ridley Scott. The original theatrical ending is here, as well as the longer director's cut, which features an extended episode of...well - I don't want to be a spoiler - but both versions seem to work. The longer cut features a freeze frame ending along with a cheesy rap song - so I'd probably go for the theatrical cut - but if you skip this one altogether, you'll have 2 or 3 hours of your life back.
Grade: C
MAD MEN (AMC)
Great atmospheric opener. What a show. It looks like season 2 is going to be great, but they didn't do too much story in the opener - looking forward to the week's ahead.
Grade: A
THE TWO COREYS (A&E)
Haim had a complete meltdown on his LOST BOYS 2 shooting day. We heard him take a pill, we watched him slur his words and we saw him get called out on it by Feldman and his shrink. This episode, featuring Feldman crying for his friend whose life can't seem to rise from the ashes - was clearly unscripted and truly heartbreaking. This grade I give is without irony:
Grade: A
AT THE MOVIES (Synd)
I heard that Ebert and Roeper are taking their names away from this and that the show is going in a "different direction." What could that be? They are best at reviewing movies - my prediction: it becomes a fluff piece that promotes the films in a softball way (this is Disney we're talking about) then has psuedo reviews where they show clips and talk to the actors and stuff - just what we didn't need. Long live Ebert, Siskel, Roeper, and the great reviewer A.O. Scott who did many turns on the couch. Not having a weekly movie review program will suck - so I guess for now, the balcony is closed.
HULK HOGAN ON STERN (SIRIUS SATELLITE)
Was great. He was open, funny - everything that Pam Anderson on both Stern and Letterman was not.
THE DARK KNIGHT (IN THEATERS)
No spoilers, but suffice it to say this is a hugely ambitious superhero film - maybe one of the most ambitious ever made. Not entirely, but mostly pretty successful. Heath Ledger is an honest to God revelation in one of his last roles - but we don't get quite enough of the Joker - and there doesn't seem to be a great exit for his character and yes, I know the actor died, but they had wrapped out his shooting long before that. The movie feels over long by about a half hour, and some if it is really uneven - but if you're looking for a dark, murky and complex crime thriller - with the addition of some ass kicking Batman-style movie making - this is pretty damn good. I didn't quite love it the way I thought I might - but I loved it. Mostly.
Grade: A -
FUNNY GAMES (AMERICAN VERSION)
So - I finally took a look at this - after giving an A + to the original. This is virtually a shot for shot remake of the original with the original director - and there are NO extras on this bare-bones but well-shot dvd. Standing in for the originals are Tim Roth and Naomi Watts as the hapless couple and Michael Pitt and another actor I can't quite name take the place of the tormentors. This is virtually the same film - but - and this is what I had anticipated - slightly less violent. The dog scene seems to be missing from the American version, and it seems like they go a little easier with the roughness towards the child in the film. Still, if you haven't seen either and hate subtitles, this is a decent way to go. While Roth and Pitt are terrific in their roles, I don't think Watts comes near the emotional journey that the woman from the original displayed. And I think the original is somehow a bit more artful - but you can't go wrong either way, here. I think you'll end up liking whichever one you see first - but there is no use in seeing them both - if you have to go with one - I'd pick the original. Also, if you are disturbed easily by scenes of implied torture - don't go anywhere near this disturbing film. Either version.
FUNNY GAMES
Original: A +
Remake: A -
SUPER HIGH ME (DVD)
Doug Benson, very funny comic and seemingly on very single VH1 show ever produced, does this comic take off on SUPERSIZE ME - Doug, a bit of a stoner - but not as much of one as we might've expected - doesn't do weed for 30 days, then smokes weed for 30 days. I have to admit - I loved the premise - but once he started smoking I realized that what could've been a smarter more informative and funny docu - had kinda gone up in smoke - couldn't really finish it - had the munchies.
Grade: C -
AMERICAN GANGSTER (DVD)
I chose to watch the 3 hour cut. Very good film, very good acting, and very dissapointing. For everything that's right about this, there's like - 10 things that are wrong. Denzel is great, Russel Crowe is good - his New York accent really doesn't fly here - and the filmaking never really gets into Denzel's character - all supposedly based on a real story. And for a bio film, the movie doesn't feel very convincing. All things considered, well worth renting, just no greatness that we expect from people like Russel Crowed, Denzel and the great director, Ridley Scott. The original theatrical ending is here, as well as the longer director's cut, which features an extended episode of...well - I don't want to be a spoiler - but both versions seem to work. The longer cut features a freeze frame ending along with a cheesy rap song - so I'd probably go for the theatrical cut - but if you skip this one altogether, you'll have 2 or 3 hours of your life back.
Grade: C
MAD MEN (AMC)
Great atmospheric opener. What a show. It looks like season 2 is going to be great, but they didn't do too much story in the opener - looking forward to the week's ahead.
Grade: A
THE TWO COREYS (A&E)
Haim had a complete meltdown on his LOST BOYS 2 shooting day. We heard him take a pill, we watched him slur his words and we saw him get called out on it by Feldman and his shrink. This episode, featuring Feldman crying for his friend whose life can't seem to rise from the ashes - was clearly unscripted and truly heartbreaking. This grade I give is without irony:
Grade: A
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