Get Season 2 of Burn Notice on Blu-Ray

This week we finish up the Burn Notice reviews (for now), with a review of the show’s second season. I haven’t watched Season 3 yet, but once I do, you can expect a review.

The Premise:

Following the conclusion of Season 1, Michael finds a few answers about who burned him – sort of. To be more accurate, he’s lost the FBI surveillance and instead has found himself in the care of Carla, his new handler. So, while now trying to make ends meet by helping the helpless, he now must also try to find out who Carla is working for, and what they want to do with him.

The Good:

Season 2 starts off very well, and continues to be paced pretty well. While we don’t have total resolution over who burned Michael, and how to get out from under their thumb, we do feel like we’re getting somewhere. It’s different from, say, Lost, where you get this sensation of taking two steps forward, and then one step back (and sometimes more). The show always feels like it’s getting forward momentum in terms of the plot. I also liked the reference to the George Smiley novels with the name choice for Carla.

The Bad:

Michael appears to rely on his guns and his explosives a bit too much. That said, he does try to keep with his MO of manipulating other people into doing the necessary killing for him.

The Ugly:

Michael’s mother taking him to the group psychiatric sessions again. Look, I know Michael has issues that he needs to work out with his family, but they did that for a B-Plot last season. It was annoying when they did it as a B-Plot last season, and it’s annoying this season. If they’d changed it up by having it be Fiona and Michael, that’d be something else entirely.

Gaming Usage:

The same general usage as last season. The show remains the perfect TV resource for Shadowrun GMs and players, at least in terms of missions, tactics, and group dynamics.

The Verdict:

The show’s changed for the darker tonally, but it’s still a great show, and I’m still giving it my recommendation.

Buy Season 1 of Burn Notice at Amazon.com

Yes, I am aware that I didn’t finish my recap of Season 1 of Burn Notice. To make up for it, I’m going to review the entire season (and season 2 besides, on a later week). However, we need to begin at the beginning. There will be spoilers, but they’ll be below the cut. I’ll try doing some spoiler-guarding stuff this time.

The Premise:

I’ll let the star of the show take this one (courtesy of IMDB):

Michael Westen: [voice-over] My name is Michael Westen. I used to be a spy. Until…
voice on phone: [phone rings] We got a burn notice on you. You’re blacklisted.
Michael Westen: [voice-over] When you’re burned, you’ve got nothing: no cash, no credit, no job history. You’re stuck in whatever city they decide to dump you in.
Michael Westen: Where am I?
Fiona Glenanne: Miami.
Michael Westen: [voice-over] You do whatever work comes your way. You rely on anyone who’s still talking to you. A trigger-happy ex-girlfriend…
Fiona Glenanne: Shall we shoot them?
Michael Westen: [voice-over] An old friend who used to inform on you to the FBI…
Sam Axe: You know spies… bunch of bitchy little girls.
Michael Westen: [voice-over] Family too…
Sam Axe: [phone rings] Hey, is that your Mom again?
Michael Westen: [voice-over] … if you’re desperate.
Madeline Westen: Someone needs your help, Michael!
Michael Westen: [voice-over] Bottom line? Until you figure out who burned you… you’re not going anywhere.

The Good:

This show is, in a word, awesome. This is, quite possibly, my favorite TV show currently on the air. Now, I haven’t seen Chuck, I haven’t watched Dollhouse, and I haven’t watched The Unit. However, Burn Notice is currently my favorite show. Unfortunately, I don’t have cable, so I have to rely on Hulu or USA’s web page to watch it – or Netflix. The dialog is great, the direction is great, the acting is excellent. The stories are wonderful. I just, in general, love it.

The Bad:

I know that there are probably so many locations in Miami they can shoot at without running into serious crowd control problems, and admittedly I haven’t been to Miami, so I can’t say for certain how true this is, but they make Miami look really small. The only episode I encountered where they really make Miami look big is the scene in Little Havana. Otherwise, a lot of the neighborhoods look the same.

The Ugly:

The second guy who tries to kill Michael, and then the assassination of the guy who (we thought) burned Michael. Those two things don’t add up with what we learn in Season 2. I’m used to TV shows making things up as they go along, and writers having to compensate for reveals we’d gotten earlier. I read comic books after all. Still, these are loose ends that are left hanging, more or less. At this point it’s not clear about whether we have two organizations competing over Michael, or if we we have two factions within the same organization, or what.

Use for Gamers:

This is, basically, a contemporary Shadowrun TV show. This isn’t just because of the team aspect of the show, but because Michael Westin is a SINless person, in the Shadowrun sense. He’s scraping by on the fringes of society. However, instead of working for organized crime syndicates, or corrupt corporations, he’s working for the little guy. I’d recommend any Shadowrun players or GMs to add this show to their to-watch list.

The Verdict:

In case you hadn’t already figured it out – I’m wholeheartedly recommending this show. This is one of the greatest dramas on television today.

Buy Smiley's People from Amazon.com (cover art will vary).

As you can probably tell by some of the subject matter of my reviews, I like spy fiction. In particular, I enjoy John LeCarre’s work, especially the character of George Smiley. Previously I’ve watched the adaptation of his novel Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, though I didn’t review it here. What I will be reviewing today, though, is the adaptation of the 3rd novel of the “Quest for Karla” trilogy, Smiley’s People, which once again puts George Smiley (played by Alec Guinness) of the British Secret Service (aka the Circus) up against Karla of the KGB, played by Patrick Stewart. There are some spoilers below the cut.

The Premise:

George Smiley is once again retired after the events of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (which was adapted for the screen) and The Honorable Schoolboy (which wasn’t). However, after one of his old operatives from Moscow, now living in the UK, contacts the Circus seeking to contact Smiley with some major intelligence, and is then murdered (evidently by Soviet intelligence), George Smiley is brought back in to the spy game, one last time, and must match wits against his old enemy, Karla, once again.

The Good:

Alec Guinness is George Smiley. I cannot think of anyone who would play the character better. If anyone says otherwise, they’re not just a liar, they’re a damn liar. The series is also excellently shot, with the BBC really going the extra mile with the production values – particularly considering the whole thing is shot on film, both external shots and interior shots. This bears mentioning, because normally the BBC shot, during this period, the interiors on video and location shooting on film.

The Bad:

The German bondage nightclub scene. Yes, I’ve read the book, I know the sequence is supposed to be there, and it’s supposed to feel dark and sleazy, but there had to have been a better way to have shot it. Also, when Karla drops Smiley’s lighter on the bridge, in the book it’s made a little more explicitly clear that it’s Smiley’s lighter from their first meeting, which Smiley recounts (and we see in flashback) in Tinker, Tailor. However, unless the members of the audience watching the miniseries have read the book and are looking for it, we can’t tell the lighter is Smiley’s during this sequence, because we get a insanely brief (on nigh subliminal) glimpse of the lighter. Being that Karla’s defection is the climax, and conclusion of the film, a sustained shot on the lighter wouldn’t have hurt things any, and wouldn’t have required the addition of any dialog.

The Ugly:

To a certain extent, this is a weakness of the book, as well as the miniseries, but it still bears mentioning. I’m good at putting the pieces together in mystery novels and suspense thrillers. However, for Smiley’s People, I still have some difficulty seeing how the murder and blackmail in England and Germany leads to the reveal of Karla’s daughter in Switzerland. There may have been some additional dialog in there that explained it, but I missed it. One more explanation would have been very helpful – particularly to explain it to the Circus people who will be assisting Smiley once he put the pieces together, and set in motion his plan to bring Karla to the west.

Gaming Usage:

If you’re running a much more serious, non-cinematic spy campaign, with a game like Spycraft, or Hero System, or even adjusting the Storyteller system to run an espionage campaign, this series (along with the earlier Tinker, Tailor) is perfect. Oh, and if you are using vanilla nWoD rules for this, you can probably even keep the Morality mechanic.

The Verdict:

As I’ve mentioned previously, I liked Tinker, Tailor – and I liked this film too. I don’t think it’s quite as good on it’s own as Tinker, Tailor but it’s still enjoyable. I definitely recommend getting it.

Get Koyaanisqatsi from Amazon.com

I’ve never watched an “art” film before. I’ve watched films with artistic intent. I’ve watch films that used artistic imagery, and I’ve watched films which made me think (which is one of the things I consider important with films that are “artistic”). However, I’ve never really seen a film that I’d call an out-and-out “art film.”

Until now.

The Premise: The film is a non-verbal one. The film depicts a series of images, in their original speed, sped up, or slowed down, depicting the world, and the flow of modern life, set to a score by Phillip Glass. I’m really understating this, as there’s more to it than that, but I can’t quite explain without getting into the stuff that I’d normally do in the Good, Bad, and Ugly segments

My Thoughts: This film is stunning. It is visually amazing. It is audibly amazing. I hadn’t seen a movie that was deliberately without a story (I’d seen ones that were unintentionally without a story, but that’s another matter), but this was the first I’d seen where the film itself was intentionally without a narrative as we normally think of it. However, it still works.

Normally, my big thing is (particularly with film), going with the director’s and writer’s original vision, but because of the nature of this film, I feel better putting it up for interpretation, and with the exception of one point – the Hopi prophesies at the end of the film (which I’ll get to later), the film works for that. You can, basically, come away from the film with any of multiple messages, or no messages at all.

In general, the message that most people get from the films, and you particularly get from critical reviews of the movies is one of nihilistic doom. Of humanity being a blight upon the earth, a cancerous sore that needs to be removed. You can certainly get that from this.The longest sequence of the film, The Grid, and before that, Resource, would certainly set that up, as does Prophecies at the end of the film. However, I got other bits out of that as well. I got that humanity organizes things organically – or at least tries to. Often the term “organic” is misunderstood as being confused, chaotic. However, if you look at the human body, or watch documentaries about it (or didn’t sleep through Biology class), you see that the human body is, itself, a machine, and our understanding of how we work, and how other living being work is taken to other portions of our life and society. Everything from the movement of the pistons in your car’s engine (the movement of human muscles), to the flow of traffic in our cities (the flow of blood in the human bloodstream) is informed by what we see in ourselves and how we, and other living things, work. As our understanding of how living things works changes, the way we build our cities and our machines changes. It’s not a grim interpretation.

Ultimately, though, that’s not the interpretation the director intended, as Prophecies, the last chapter of the film, shows. The chapter has (among other things), sung on the soundtrack, a series of Hopi Prophecies which as used in this film basically can be summarized as “UR DOIN IT WRONG.” There’s a prophecy about spilt ashes from the sky burning the earth and boiling the sea which in context of the film is meant to refer to nuclear destruction (we have film of atomic bomb tests earlier in the film). There’s an explicit prohibition against mining (we see strip-mining earlier in the film). The third prophecy refers to a spiderweb being formed in the sky on the day of purification which in the context of the film is meant to refer to airplanes (we get a lot of footage of airplanes, including footage on an Air Force fighter jet).

Firstly, I’ve generally not been one to let ancient prophecies control my life, and having been raised by an archeologist, I’ve learned that while some prophecies make sense in the time they were written (some of the ancient prohibitions against shellfish being due to shellfish in their geographic areas, with their ability to predict toxic algae blooms, and their cooking methods, being hazardous to eat), but don’t hold up later (nowadays not only do we have farm raised shellfish, but we can cook them enough that we can make damn sure that the bacteria is dead, without overcooking the shellfish). I feel that a lot of this “The noble savages were better than us, they lived life sustainably, if we lived life as they did the world would be a better place” are bulldrek (putting aside the catastrophic death toll needed to return to that state.  Further, the prophecies feel, well, cherry-picked. Several Hopi Prophecy Experts are credited in the film, and I can’t help but feel the director went to these experts and said, “I’m doing an art film about how our current way of life is not sustainable, and I need some Hopi prophecies or tidbits of wisdom that could be applicable to some of the images in my film” and then he gives them a list of the major images he uses. Finally, with all the 2012 bullshit going around right now (and the 2000 bullshit going around on the turn of the century), I must admit that as soon as the prophecies came up, I head-desked. Repeatedly. So, with all that said, what is…

The Verdict: Despite the semi-newagey clap-trap, I enjoyed the film, and I’d say it is a gorgeously shot film. The score is great, and, probably everyone should see it once. Particularly since the film has become part of pop culture. I don’t know if I’d buy it… on DVD. I’d be dramatically more inclined to buy it once it comes out on Blu-Ray (and it needs to come out on Blu-Ray).

Get Hoodlum at Amazon.com

I’ve been a fan of gangster films (with gangsters of most types), ever since I discovered Shadowrun when I was in middle school. So, I’ve become kind of familiar with the genre (though I’m not even going to pretend I’ve seen seen everything the genre has to offer). So when my Netflix recommendations popped up Hoodlums, I added it to my queue – as I had not seen a gangster film set in the classic gangster period featuring African Americans, and I was kind of hoping it would be a good take on the genre, and that it would portray it’s subjects appropriately.

The Premise: Ellsworth “Bumpy” Johnson has just gotten out of prison in 1936 (in the midst of the Great Depression) and has returned to Harlem where, he intends to get back into helping “Madame Queen” Stephanie St. Clair in running the numbers business (an underground lottery). However, Dutch Shultz has been muscling in on her turf, and has been getting the attention of district attorney Thomas Dewey, with Lucky Luciano (representing the Commission of New York’s mafia families) attempting to maintain order. Being that this is the kind of film that it is, things go out of control, and a gang war is waged across the streets of New York.

The Good: The acting from the gangsters (Tim Roth as Schultz, Andy Garcia as Luciano, and Laurence Fishburne as Johnson) is excellent. The writing is, in general, very good, with a few issues I’ll get into later. However, in general, the script is solid, and even manages to avoid a few of the gangster movies cliches (including the temper-tantrum from the anti-hero gangster when his wife/girlfriend/moll leaves him, by throwing the gifts he’d previously purchased for her at her while she tries to explains her reasons).

The Bad: The film takes some liberties with history that don’t totally rub me the wrong way, but do leave me shifting in my seat awkwardly. Schultz’s death is fairly well documented, and would certainly work on the big screen without the alterations made for the film (which actually weakens the character of Schultz more than what actually happened would). As it exists in the film, the sequence’s only purpose (aside from killing Schultz of course), is to make Luciano look like more of the tough guy, after being the diplomat for most of the film.

Further, rather than Schultz being killed for killing one of Luciano’s men, as is depicted in the film (as an act manipulated into happening by Johnson), Schultz was killed for plotting the assassination of Thomas Dewey, an act which would have brought far too much heat onto The Commission. Since Schultz had mentioned previously in the film that he’d wanted to kill Dewey, and that the film had established that both Schultz and Johnson’s actions were putting more pressure on Dewey to act against Schultz and the Commission, it wouldn’t have been difficult to set up, basically, a Xanatos Gambit where Johnson’s actions were planned to force the Commission to kill Schultz for him – as if he or his organization were to kill Schultz, it would bring the wrath of the Commission down on him. They’d already established Johnson as The Chessmaster, and used a chess motif at several times during the movie. The audience would buy into it. Further, if they were heart set on having a “Black Gangsters Outsmart White Gangsters” concept (which is perfectly fine) that would actually work better, because Johnson would be pulling off manipulation at the level of, at the most extreme, L (or Light Yagami), or at the lowest extreme, Michael Weston.

Oh, and they kill off Lillian Harris Dean (aka “Pigfoot Mary”), to cause angst for Illinois Gordan (who had Mary as his love interest), Johnson’s longtime friend and closest lieutenant, so they can have an argument about how violent Harlem has become and it’s not worth it, and he can storm off, so he can be tragically killed later. This bears mentioning because the real Pigfoot Mary died in retirement in California before the events of the film took place.  It’s a cinematic Woman In Refrigerator.

The Ugly: This is more of a visual thing than a story thing, but it bears mentioning. In this film every black person, male or female, who isn’t a gangster or doesn’t become involved with gangsters has buck teeth. I recognize that at the time poverty is rampant, and not everyone could afford good dental care (hell, I can barely afford it myself). I’m aware that the skull shape of black people has certain differences from the skull shape of white people. But for Christ’s sake, you just had to go to a look that had them with buck teeth? Really? Because that’s not their actual teeth, it’s pretty clear that those are fake teeth made for the movie. Considering the talent you got, you’d think that somebody (say, Lawrence) would have said something, though it may have been too late in the game to bring up this complaint. Still, considering that one of the racist stereotypical images of black people has them with buck teeth, you’d think they’d have known better.

The Verdict: As a gangster film, this is perfectly acceptable, and an excellent example of the genre. It’s no Scarface, it’s no Little Caesar. But it’s still pretty good, and if you want your gangster fix, you could definitely do worse. I recommend it for at least a rental, and a purchase if you like it more than I did.

RPG Use: This is a new thing I’m going to try doing – if a film has it’s uses for a RPG campaign, I’ll bring up specific games in this section. Aside from TSR’s classic Gangbusters, and possibly Shadowrun, I’ve always felt that Gangster films and TV series (like The Sopranos), also work well as a resource and template for a Vampire: The Requiem (or possibly The Masquerade) campaign. Often times, the higher ranking gangers are physically older, and can also be out-of-touch with the times (the same with vampires). Drawing the heat of the police can be replaced through masquerade violations, and prison time could be replaced with Torpor. The main characters “crew” would be their cotarie.

Specific to Hoodlum, I’d say it works pretty well with Requiem, with the different families being represented by the different political factions. If you’re still using Old Vampire, bloodlines could work as well, and to a certain degree you could bring up the film’s racism angle in that respect as well.

Get "The World's Greatest Wrestling Managers" from Amazon.com

So, I’m trying to watch some more wrestling stuff, and I’ve gotten a few wrestling DVDs in, which I’ll be reviewing over the next couple weeks. First up is more of a documentary focused DVD, based around various managers in the WWE’s history… as if you couldn’t tell in the title.

The Premise: Hosted by Todd Grisham, we take a walk back memory lane and discuss some of the greatest managers in the WWE’s history, and what made them great, as heels, or as faces. We have interviews with the managers in question, as well as with various WWE Superstars talking about those particular managers, and what makes a good manager in general. The individual mangers who get profiled include Bobby “The Brain” Heenan, Captain Lou Albano, Paul Bearer, Jim Cornette, Paul Heyman, Sunny, “Classy” Freddie Blassie, “The Sensational” Sherrie Martel, and “The Mouth of the South” Jimmy Hart, The Grand Wizard Of Wrestling, and The Lovely Miss Elizabeth, as well as a general profile of female managers/valets in wrestling (with particular mention given to Debra, Chyna, Trish Stratus and Rena Mero).

The Good: I’d seen some of these guys before – most of these guys before, but I’d never gotten an opportunity to hear these guys cut actual promos, with the sole exceptions of Paul Bearer and Bobby Heenan. The tone is generally respectful, even for managers who didn’t work for the WWE often, if at all.  I’m particularly impressed to see the Grand Wizard of Wrestling and, considering who he’s managed in the past, I’m surprised I’d never seen much of him before. They are a little not disrespectful of Tammy Lynn Sytch (Sunny), but they do give the impression in their coverage that she had self destructed in the past. I did so some research and apparently she was fired from the WWE for drug problems combined with no-showing appearance, but otherwise it’s okay.

The Bad: For a DVD about managers, it really needs more promos. I don’t care much about matches for something like this, unless it’s something really major (like the Midnight Express/Road Warriors Scaffold match). However, for a DVD about the managers, you really need promos for all the managers. In particular, there aren’t any Grand Wizard of Wrestling promos, which I was most disappointed over, as from what I saw really impressed me.

The Ugly: This DVD drop-kicks Jim Cornette under the bus. Seriously. Their entire segment on Jim Cornette was spent bad-mouthing his gimmick, bad-mouthing him as a person, bad-mouthing his promos and generally being insulting and disrespectful to the man.

The Verdict: It’s a decent DVD, with some a good list of names for future research into these managers if you weren’t familiar with them before. For that matter, if you’re getting into a Wrestling RPG campaign and you’re going to role-play a manager, this basically has some pretty good advice on how to play a manager. Otherwise though, I wouldn’t recommend buying this.

Get The Best of IWA Wrestling Vol. 2 from Amazon.com

Well, after  much delay, I’ve decided to continue with my wrestling recaps and reviews. This won’t be as in depth as my Wrestlemania reviews, and won’t be done as regularly. Nonetheless, I’m gonna give this a try. First up is The Best of IWA Wrestling Vol. 2. As a slight note, this promotion is not the IWA promotion that’s currently active in Puerto Rico and Japan, nor IWA Mid-South. This is a separate promotion that was active in the Ohio area from the 1970s to some undetermined point.

Dates for the matches are not provided, though they’re all from TV tapings. Our commentary team is Lee Marshall and Diamond Dallas Page (from some point in his career between going from managing to actively wrestling).

Match 1: “Hitman” Tommy Stetson vs. “Lil’ Cricket” David Isley.

This is from the first round of the tournament to determine the first IWA Junior Heavyweight Champion. We get some chained standing switches before Stetson reaches the ropes. Isley locks Stetson in a rest hold (a standing headlock), which he chains into a hip toss to ground Stetson. Stetson gets out and tries to build momentum and gets an arm-drag and then a headlock for his trouble. Isley cradles for 2. Stetson and Isley get in the corner and exchange blows before Isley takes the worst of a turnbuckle splash. Rather, it was meant to be a turnbuckle splash but Isley started to come out of the corner before he got hit. Not sure if that’s deliberate or mis-communication.

Anyway, Stetson is in control again. 2-Count off a back elbow. Stetson rakes Isley across the ropes and applies a reverse chinlock. Big flying high knee for 2. Stetson goes up top but gets caught and thrown by Isley. Isley gets a 2-count off a drop kick. Isley hits a back drop. Stetson is staggered but has the sense to roll up Isley and pull the tights for the pin.

Winner: “Hitman” Terry Stetson by pinfall at 6:38.
Rating: **1/2 – This match had a few blown spots and the finish was rather poor.

Match 2: “Dirty” Dick Flannigan vs. Preston Steele (w/ Noelle)

Apparently Preston’s entrance music is “Funky Co-Medina” by Tone-Loc, and is billed as “The Ultimate Male”. Basically, he’s Randy Savage in his face mode, and his manager provides some feedback. Dick jumps steel before the bell and works Steel over in the corner a bit before Steele takes complete control. Huh, Flannigan is masked. Steele locks on an armlock and continues to work Flannigan’s arm. Flannigan regains control with a thumb to the eyes. Steele gets worked over in the corner and neck jacked off the top rope. Belly-to-back suplex by Flannigan for 2. Both men trade blows, until Steele hits a backbreaker and missile dropkick, before finally hitting a corner slingshot splash for the pin.

Winner: Preston Steele by pinfall at 3:29
Rating: **1/2 – For a short match had some decent psychology to it, though it did have its faults – Flannigan botched a spot, and this match was really short.

Match 3: Ivan Koloff vs. Cousin Luke (aka Hillbilly Luke)

Once again, the heel, Koloff jumps Luke before the bell. I wonder if Koloff’s chain he brought to the ring is going to be brought into play. Luke regains control as we get USA chants. So, early 90s? Koloff. Yep, sounds like it. Koloff gets hit with a body slam and rolls out of the ring. Koloff applies a full nelson but Luke gets out. Koloff applies a rest hold before Luke regains control with a shoulder block, leading to some stalling Both men fight in the corner. Koloff drapes the chain over the turnbuckle pads and then rams Luke into it. That’s different. Koloff continues to work the head, with boots, the ropes, etc. I wonder if Luke will get bust open?

Nope, apparently not. Luke regains control, but not before Koloff dumps him over the top rope, getting the DQ. Koloff continues the beating after the match for a bit.

Winner: Cousin Luke by DQ at 4:37
Rating: * – Stalling, a bullshit non-finish, and a lack of blood that could have actually used it (and, for the record, I’m not a fan of the crimson mask).

Match 4: Frank “The Heavenly” Angel & Mitch Rhyder vs. the Samoan Swat Team (Afa & Samu w/ Kokina Maximus)

Just to make it clear, Kokina Maximus is Rodney Anoa’i, who would later wrestle in the WWF as Yokozuna.

Whoever though putting Frank’s nickname in the middle was a good idea needs a dope slap. Angel & Rhyder, who apparently are the heels, jump the bell. Noticing a trend? Anyway, DDP observes that this is quite possibly the dumbest thing you can do against the Samoans. Well, second dumbest thing. The dumbest thing is to head-butt the guys. Anyway, the Samoans clean house. Rhyder gets sent outside, and Angel gets his ass beat. Finally, the Samoans get bored with Angel and they send him into Rhyder so he’s tagged in. Rhyder gets beat down next, finally getting hit with a belly-to-back super-plex, but surprisingly only for 2. Finaly, they hit the Samoan drop and put Rhyder out of his misery.

Winner: The Samoan Swat Team by pinfall at 3:39
Rating: ** – This  was a squash match, but an entertaining one.

Match #5: Al “The Sledge” Hammer (w/ Dr. Mark Curtis) vs. “Starfire” Derek Dukes

Al jumps Dukes before the bell, leading into chain wrestling until Dukes hits a drop kick.  They almost do the Puro Shoulder Block Spot until Dukes decides to do a side kick instead and continue with the strikes. Al regains control with a rest hold. Somehow, Dukes got bust open on his side, though I’m not sure how that happened. Dukes runs into a big clothesline. Bodyslam and missed elbow drop by Al. Al gets whipped into the ropes and runs into his manager and knocks himself out. Dukes covers and gets the pin.

Winner: Derek Dukes at 2:11
Rating: ** – The psychology was good and Dukes was very good, even though he kind of had to carry the match, as short as it was, but the finish didn’t seem right for a match this short. It’s a blowoff match finish without a feud attached to it, and with a filler match length.

Match 6: Kokina Maximus vs. Big Hoss w/ (Doc Diamond)

Hoss gets a shot in before the bell. Hoss tries to move Kokina and fails, including trying a few head-butts. Hoss gets manhandled by Kokina, until Kokina throws him out of the ring and follows, ultimately leading to both parties getting counted out.

Winner: Double Count-Out at 4:17
Rating: DUD.

Match 7: Junkyard Dog vs. Mad Mountain Mike Moore.

JYD takes control early on, knocking Mike prone and putting the head-butts to him, and Mike rolls out of the ring to re-group. After Mike quits stalling, he takes a Russian leg-sweep for 2. Mike rams JYD’s head into the turnbuckle and JYD no-sells. JYD is sent for the ride, and the top rope snaps leaving JYD hurtling to the concrete floor! Whoops! However, the show must go on, and JYD is able to return to the ring, while DDP goes ape-shit over the rope brake to try and cover. JYD is able to recover and hits a series of head-butts for the pin.

Winner: Junkyard Dog by pinfall at 4:03
Rating: DUD – Between the broke rope, and the lack of agility or work rate on the part of both participants, leading to the bad rating.

Match 8: Kerry Von Erich vs. Larry Cameron.

Cameron  jumps the bell, and he takes control early on. Kerry responds with a power-slam and some arm-drags. Cameron rolls to the outside to get a breather. After rolling back in both men fight in the corner. Cameron applies a sleeper but Kerry powers out. Cameron goes to the second rope and hits an axe handle. Cameron goes to the top rope and misses a flying axe handle, leaving an opening for the Iron Claw. Cameron reaches the ropes but gets pulled away. Cameron tries to escape to the outside but Kerry keeps the hold applied for a double Count-Out.

Winner: Double Count-Out at 5:10
Rating: DUD – If this was part of a larger feud, not just in terms of matches to come but also matches coming before this, then it’d work better – and if the match was also longer.

Match 9: Chief Jules Strongbow vs. Afa (with Samu & Kokina Maximus)

Afa’s entrance music is John Carpenter’s theme from Halloween. Doesn’t really mesh in my opinion. Strongbow is distracted by Kokina & Samu, allowing Afa to get some hits in. While Afa dominates Jules, Lee gets some cheap shots in at WCW and at The Ultimate Warrior. Anyway, Afa applies a trapezius hold, Jules powers out and applies a sleeper, leading to Samu and Kokina coming in to break up the hold, leading to the DQ

Winner: Jules Strongbow by DQ at 4:08.
Rating: * – Ultra short match with some good psychology but no opportunity to do anything with it, combined with a non-finish! This could have been better with 10 minutes and a clean finish.

Match 10: Cousin Luke vs. “The New Jersey Nightmare”

Luke shrugs off a post bell assault (for a change) and rallies quickly. The Nightmare rolls to the outside for a breather, then comes back in. Both men fight in the corner, and the Nightmare gets the upper hand until Luke reaches the ropes, breaking it up. Luke regains control via a  reversed Irish whip, and he hits a big corner splash, then a running verticla splash for the pin.

Winner: Cousin Luke by pinfall at 3:17
Rating: * – Squash match, though one in the Col. DeBeers variety, and with a clean finish.

Match 11: Ray Odyssey & Chris “The Edge” Evans vs. The Pitbull Express (w/ “Pretty Boy” Larry Sharpe)

Yep, this is The Pitbulls of ECW fame – Gary Wolfe and Anthony Durante. However, at this point in their careers, they’ve got mullets and are clean shaven. Sharpe’s got a semi-Fonzie gimmick.

Ray, sporting a wet suit starts for his team, Gary Wolfe starts for The Pitbulls. Ray & Gary go back and forth, with Ray landing a drop kick and some arm drags. Gary gets dominated. Gary reaches for the tag but his hand is kicked away, provoking Anthony. Anthony gets back-dropped by Ray, while he’s got a headlock on Gary! Ray then takes down Anthony in a head-scissors, while still holding the headlock, turning it into a hip-toss! I’ve never seen that before.

The Pitbulls regroup outside, with Anthony being the legal man when they come back in. Unfortunately, Ray’s a casa en fuego right now. Evens gets the tag, and Anthony gets control. Anthony puts Evans in the tree of woe, and they put the boots to him. Evans continues to play face in peril. Evans nearly tags Joe in, but the ref doesn’t see the tag. FGinally, the Pitbulls hit a shoulder breaker and knee drop for the pin.

Winner: The Pitbulls by pinfall at 11:21
Rating: ***1/2 – That was good. I’d say it’s the first good match of the DVD.

Match 12: Ivan Koloff vs. Derek Dukes

Koloff and Dukes get some chain wrestling in, with Koloff going to the ropes. FInally, they move to the corner for a bit, and then to the middle of the ring. Dueks than takes control and works the leg. Koloff reverses into a Fujiwara armbar. Dukes regians control again and goes back to the leg. This is also good. Koloff regins control and applies a choke followed by a sleeper. Atomic drop and dropkick by dukes, followed by a backdrop for 1. Ivan regains control and rakes the face and back, and hits a neck breaker and leg drop for 2. Dukes gets a mounted 10 in the corner but Ivan regians control.  Dukes gets worked over and Koloff gets 2 off a lariat. Dukes gets 2 off a sunset flip. Neither guy can get the upper hand until Dukes manages a pin-fall off a cross body.

Winner: Derek Dukes by pinfall at 11:19
Rating: ***1/2 – Koloff’s still got it.

Match 13: Larry Cameron vs. the Montana Mauler

Cameron’s entrance music is “Wild Thing” by Tone Loc. In short – Mauler is a masked jobber who gets his ass beat.

Winner: Cameron by pinfall at 3:42.
Rating: DUD.

Match 14: Preston Steele (w/ Noelle) vs. “Hot” Bobby Salsa

This, is, to a certain degree, another squash match, except, as Salsa gets a moderate amount of offense in, it’s probably more like a Col. DeBeers squash instead of a standard squash. Either that or Salsa is just debuting and he’s getting beat in a squash match before squaring off with other midcarders – though with a name like “Hot” Bobby Salsa, you’re not going to go very far. Anyway, Preston gets the pin again with a Russian legsweep, a missile dropkick, and the corner slingshot splash.

Winner: Preston Steele by pinfall at 4:29.
Rating: *1/2 – It’s a squash match, but with decent ring work. If this match hadn’t been a squash match, it probably would have gotten that next half a star. If it had made it 10 minutes, it might have even gotten 3 stars, depending on the ring work.

Match 15: Junkyard Dog vs. Titan Taz Apollo

Titan Taz Apollo is of no relation to the Tazmanic (aka Peter Senerca). JYD is coming out to “Another One Bites The Dust” by Queen. JYD shuts down Apollo, manhandling him. (sings) Once… twice… three bodyslams a Jobber. Sucks to be you. (stops singing). Apollo tries to get some offense in but JYD no-sells all of it. Powerslam and we’re done.

Winner: JYD by pinfall at 3:16
Rating: * – An amusing squash.

Match 16: Mike Moore vs. Kerry Von Erich

Kerry’s entrance music is “Saturday Night’s Alright for Fighting” by Elton John, which is probably the only Elton John song that works for Entrance Music. Mike taunts Kerry, and they do a test of strength, which is inconclusive. They lock up, and Kerry gets control. Mike is very wary, but Kerry gets the upper hand of every exchange. Finally, they lock up in the corner, the ref breaks it up, and Mike hits a second rope flying lariat. Mike gets another Lariat before Kerry regains control. Kerry’s pissed. Discus punch and a pin.

Winner: Kerry Von Erich by pinfall at 6:05
Rating: **1/2 – Decent and enjoyable but too one-sided.

Match 17: The Wild Samoans (Samu & Kokina Maximus) vs. The Pitbulls (w/ Larry Sharpe)

This turns into a brawl quickly, which the Pitbulls get the worst of. The Pitbulls get thrown outside and regroup. Finally, the ref restores some semblance of of order. Samu takes control quickly and tags in Kokina, with Gary the legal man for the pitbulls. Gary bounces off Kokina when he tries a shoulder block. Both Pitbulls come in and try a similtaneous shoulder block, and they bounce off too. Once again, the Pitbulls go outside and re-group. When they come back in, Samu is the legal man. Samu ends up being face in peril for a bit (complete with tags that the ref didn’t see) until finally Kokina gets tagged in. Sharpe grabs Kokina’s leg by the ropes, causing the ref to call for the bell.

Winner: The Wild Samoans by DQ at 9:22
Rating: **1/2 – Great start, lousy finish.

After the match, Afa comes out and the Samoans clean house.

Match 18: Larry Winters vs. David Isley

Both men shake hands and lock up, leading into a lot of really, really fast chain technical wrestling, with a lot of near falls too. How fast? Think the first 5 minutes of a Rob Van Dam vs. Jerry Lynn match in ECW. Ultimately one of the near-falls becomes a pinfall.

Winner: David Isley by pinfall at 3:06
Rating: *** – This had the potential, with a little more length to it, to be an amazing match. I’m positively shocked that I’ve never heard of David Isley before. Had Isley been hired by ECW, I’d probably have heard of him, instead of his languishing in obscurity. I hearby declare David Isley the 90s best wrestler that nobody heard of.

Match 19: Ivan Koloff vs. Cousin Luke

This is match #3 all over again. Just read that description.

Winner: Cousin Luke by DQ at 5:50.
Rating: DUD – Some people can do more or less the same match over and over again and still make it interesting (Flair & Steamboat, Malenko & Guerrero, RVD & Lynn). Such situations require two wrestlers who are actually good. Not one carrying the other. Koloff is still good at this point in his career. Luke was never good.

The Verdict: There are four good matches on here, total. However, if you combine all their lengths, they don’t break half an hour. Basically, whoever put this DVD together just mashed together two TV tapings and called it a day. There aren’t any matches on here from the kind of monthly card that would, you, know, have a blowoff match for a feud, or for that matter, any matches that break 20 minutes. Skip this DVD.

Buy "Genesis of the Daleks" from Amazon.com

This week we’re taking a break from reviewing movies for a review of another Doctor Who storyline. This one is one heck of a classic storyline, featuring one of everyone’s favorite Doctors – Tom Baker. Now, does this storyline hold up over time, or is it as flimsy as the walls of one of their sets. Oh, the story? Genesis of the Daleks.

The Premise

The Doctor and his companions are diverted from their Trans-mat (teleporter) trip back to the TARDIS (Time and Relative Dimensions In Space – their Time Machine to you who are new to the Who), by the Time Lords, who instead send them to the planet of Skaro in the distant past. Their reason – the Time Lords have come to realize that the Daleks are far more powerful than they realized, powerful enough to destroy even them. Thus, they have broken their rule of non-interference and are tasking The Doctor (and his companions, Ian and Sarah Jane), with the task of finding a weakness in the Daleks in this early stage of their existance, or, if possible, to elimiate them.

The Good

The story has aged very well. Even now it’s still a very haunting story, particularly in the way it’s shot – the lighting covers up a multitude of sins in the set design and the props, and also covers up the inherent weaknesses in the Daleks at this point (the Dalek models cannot be depicted going up stairs, and while they’ll never outright say that Daleks can’t go up stairs, we’ll never see them overcome that limitation until Remberance of the Daleks, a 7th Doctor story. Nonetheless, the Daleks as depected here are very frightening, intimdating figures. While they’re not as devious as in previous Dalek stories (or the Big Finish audio plays), here they are quite literally an unstoppable force. It really sets up that a Dalek cannot be defeated, only be delayed in achieving their goal. Michael Wisher also does an excellent job as the Dalek’s insane creator, Davros.

The Bad

This storyline was aired on the BBC the spring of 1975. To put this in perspective – Star Wars was still in production. As you can imagine, the special effects are rather poor. Part of this is because the technology isn’t there, and part of this – the largest part of this – is that they have little no budget. The weakness in the walls of the sets are extremely clear, and the supposedly metal walls look more like they were covered in tin-foil – except they had to use something else because they couldn’t afford the tin-foil. Oh, and the location shooting on the surface of Skaro is at their favorite gravel pit. In other words, the special effects are at their usual Doctor Who level. Now, for some people this isn’t a problem, but there are others who cannot suspend their disbelief for poor special effects, so consider yourself warned.

The Ugly

Davros’ assistant/trusted lieutentant, Nyder. He’s competant, and somewhat saner than Davros. However, he’s apparently either not sane enough to recognize that his boss is stark raving mad. Either that, or he’s too dumb to recognize that his boss’ plan is going to bite him in the ass really fucking hard. In which case, if he can’t read the writing on the wall about Davros’ plan, how can he read the writing on the wall against the various plots against Davros by the people who are working against Davros, and how come Nyder doesn’t have the pattern recognition to realize that things could not turn out well against Davros, even if Davros didn’t lose control of the Dalek’s first.

The Verdict

This is, in my opinion, my favorite Doctor Who Dalek story, with the others being (in my top 5), in order, Resurrection of the Daleks, Remeberance of the Daleks, The Dalek Invasion of Earth, and Army of Ghosts/Doomsday. I’d suspect “The Dalek Master Plan” might supplant one of those stories, but, unfortunately, most of the story has been lost, so the story may never see the light of day on DVD.

Get Michael Palin's "Around the World In 80 Days" from Amazon.com

Travel documentary series, while at times they can be enoyable, aren’t necessarily my thing. Often times, like Travels in Europe, by Portland native Rick Steves, or Globe Trekker,  the people hosting the show are people who travel professionally – they write about it, and often times they take the time to get to know an area, and thus they have all the tricks and tips to pass along to you to make your stay more comfortable. I’ve also found that these end up making the documentary a little less approachable. They’re being told by an old hand. So, in the course of my travels and travails through Netflix, I found a travel documentary series by Michael Palin – Around the World in 80 days. Being a fan of Monty Python (as is any self respecting geek), I watched it. Now, what did I think about it?

The Premise:

Michael Palin is challenged to go around the world in 80 days, without using any form of air transport, following (as closely as safely possible) the route of Phineass Fogg, the protagonist of Jules Verne’s novel. Accompanying him on his trip is his own Passepartout – a 6-man film crew from the BBC who is recording the trip. The journey will take Palin across Europe, the Middle East, to India, China, Japan, and finally across the Pacific Ocean, the US (by Train) and across the Atlantic back to Great Britain. With improved engine technology from Verne’s time, it should be a peace of cake. Shouldn’t it?

The Good:

The documentary, from at the very leat a journalistic standpoint, is an interesting portrait of the times – The Iraq-Iran war had only recently been over, and Palin passed through Hong Kong before the hand-over to the Chinese, and more significantly, mere weeks before the Tienanmen Square protest, and Japan in the midst of the Bubble Economy. It’s also amazing to see such a comparison of boat and train travel across the trip – from the formal luxury of the Venice-Semplon (sp) Orient Express, to the mass of humanity on trains in the Middle East and India, to the middle ground of Amtrak – less luxurious than the Orient Express, but more comfortable than the trains in India. Simiarlaly with boat travel, from passenger boats to small freighters, do a Dao, to massive container ships.

The Bad:

To Palin’s credit, he never intentionally makes anyone look stupid – that’s not his humor style. But I can’t help but feel in the editing that some of the people they selected from all their copious amounts of footage were selected because they looked stupid, particularly in India and in the United States.

The Ugly:

I am pleased to say that there is nothing in this documentary that I would fit in the “Ugly” category.

The Verdict:

If you’re looking to watch this for travel advise – it’s woefully out of date for that (20 years out of date, approximately). However, if you’re watching this to see what a slice of the world was really like 20 years ago – I’d say you can’t do too much better than this.

Purchase "The Universe: Season 1" from Amazon.com

There have been many excellent documentary series about our cosmos and how it works.  Many of them, particularly Cosmos, Stephen Hawking’s Universe, and The Elegant Universe, have been hosted by noted astrophysicists, astronomers and cosmologists, such as the late Carl Sagan, Stephen Hawking, and Brian Green (respectively). They’ve also generally been on public broadcasting, or on channels like the Discovery Channel or The Learning Channel – which focus on science programming. The History Channel has now started running The Universe, a series on our universe and our solar system, how it works, and what it’s like, and how we know what we know about it. So, the question is, is the show on par with the documentaries I’ve already mentioned, or does it kind of fumble the ball like The Dark Ages did?

The Premise

Covering everythng from how our solar system formed, to the properties of the various planets, to the threat to our planet from Near Earth Objects and Gamma Ray Bursts, to The Big Bang and how we learned about it, the show covers a multitude of topics about our Solar System, using visual analogies, computer generation representations of planets, asteroids and events, and interviews with cosmologists, physicists, and astronomers to explain how the universe works.

The Good

The presentation and explanation of everything is excellent. Everything is described in a user friendly fashion, and, I have to say, I understood some concepts that I didn’t quite grasp better than I did before I watched the documentary (particularly with how Solar Fusion works.) The interviews are very well done, and they have some excellent physicists speaking on here, particularly Brian Greene (who I mentioned previously), Michio Kaku (physicist working on String Theory), and Neil DiGrasse Tyson (who hosted another documentary series on physics for PBS). Carl Sagan even gets a shout-out.

The Bad

Some of the special effects shots are, frankly, pretty dire. It really got the impresson across that they’re doing this on less of a budget then PBS has.

The Ugly

The show has some of the sensationalism problems that the Dark Ages had, but not as bad. The discussion of Near Earth Objects and Gamma Ray Bursts wiping out the planet are sensationalist topics (and they’re not entirely unreasonable, though NEO’s are more reasonable to be concerned about than Gamma Ray Bursts, particularly considering we can’t do anything about Gamma Ray Bursts, except be off planet at the time.) However, when the Documentary gets to the “Big Rip” theory of the end of the universe, then things get silly. The Big Rip theory is a relatively recent theory that hasn’t gotten quite as much traction as the Big Chill theory of the end of the universe. Basically, the Big Rip theory says that dark matter and dark energy will put a greater strain on gravity then we think, and eventually, as the universe expands, dark energy will tear everything in the universe apart, all the way to the sub atomic level. This is not expected to happen for billions of years. Oh, and for the record, the Big Chill theory basically means that as the universe keeps expanding, and things get farther and farther apart, eventually it will become too difficult for the material scattered by a star going nova to seed other stars and planets elsewhere in the galaxy, and consequently, the universe will slowly chill out.

The Verdict

This was really a lot better than I anticipated. Most science documentary junkies (like myself) will probably not se a lot of new stuff here (though there will be some bits that are different). But, I would say, reasonably, that The Universe would be in about the same league as the documentaries I mentioned at the start of this review. It’s not a first stringer, but it’s got it where it counts, and I would say that it’s a worthy companion to Comos (particularly with regards to scientific developments since Sagan did his documentary). I’d say that this is worth picking up.

(Particularly since Cosmos is really expensive!)