Archive for January, 2008

Smiley Face

Posted in DVDs & Movies on January 28th, 2008 by samkoritz – Be the first to comment

Smiley Face (2006) 

Sam: ****

  • The Greg Araki-directed comedic adventures of a young woman who got too high. A few good laughs.

Emma: ***

  • It helps to have a couple of drinks, or whatever, before watching this.

When We Were Kings

Posted in DVDs & Movies on January 27th, 2008 by samkoritz – Be the first to comment

When We Were Kings (1996)

Sam: ****

  • A doc about the Ali/Foreman fight in Zaire in ‘74. Really makes you feel the excitement of post-colonialism & the US civil rights movement. See with King of Scotland. It’s easy to be cynical about it all, 34 years later but, really, 34 years is like a blink of the eye, and Africa may yet rise.

Emma: ****

  • Surprisingly good.

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Project Runway: Season 1 (2004)

Sam: ****

  • Those career/personality tests say that I should be a fashion designer, so maybe that’s why I like this show so much.

Emma: ****

  • I like that it was about people doing things, and having talent, rather than just being bitchy — a more positive type of reality show.

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Shameless: Season 1 (2004)

Sam: ****

  • Comedy set in a housing project (”council flat”) in Manchester, England. Bracingly “UN-PC,” or what they used to call iconoclastic.

Emma: ****

  • Original & groundbreaking. It pushed the boundaries of conventional TV, so conservatives should subtract a star or two.

Surface

Posted in DVDs & Movies on January 5th, 2008 by samkoritz – Be the first to comment

Surface: The Complete Series (2005)

Sam: ****

  • The “Complete Series,” but what the title doesn’t tell you is that the series was canceled after the 1st season, so the viewer is left hanging, more or less. Otherwise, a not-bad trashy sci-fi show. Like Netflix says, it’s “in the tradition of E.T. and Close Encounters of the Third Kind” — but better than E.T., at least.

Emma: ****

  • Good but it took a while to get into it.