Bev-7 Reviews

Mozart in the Jungle (2014–2018)

Really Enjoying This

[9/10 · 12 February 2015]

What an enjoyable series! I'm looking forward to more. I happened to encounter an image for it as I was researching a project. Malcolm McDowell, Bernadette Peters, and the premise captured my attention. I'm so particular about what I watch that I often leave the TV off because of the degraded quality of programming on broadcast. Even cable has saturated itself with unscripted fare that clones other unscripted fare. Where's the creativity? Where's that something different? I found it on Amazon. The characters are important here, and I'm truly liking them because they are allowed to have shortcomings as much as they are allowed to soar with their strengths. They are not predictable; they are multidimensional.

Futureshock: Comet (2007 TV Movie)

Entertaining Educational Production

[9/10 · 1 July 2008]

Geographic goofs aside, this film is fairly good. It is essentially an educational piece platformed on a drama with multi-dimensional characters moving the action along as they provide enlightening information about such a likelihood. It addresses some of the public notions of what would happen and why and makes the distinction between what we've seen in Hollywood portrayals and what scientists know to be likely, especially with regard to prediction and intervention. The science is pretty accurate and the mood is one of the inevitable. It's not a matter of IF but WHEN a NEO strikes Earth.

The production is British but they put the object strike at Pittsburgh, my hometown. I was a bit amused. Why Pittsburgh?

Starhunter (2000–2004)

I tried to watch this series

[21 June 2003]

Truly, I tried to watch this series because I have been a Michael Pare fan for beaucoup years. But even my interest in his work and his great talent was not enough to keep me tuned in. I sense that he made very attempt to develop his character, demonstrate logical interaction with the rest of the characters, and keep the plot afloat. He had an uphill battle on this one.

The Piano (1993)

A haunting romance

[9/10 · 26 February 2003]

Erotic and emotionally powerful, "The Piano" tells of a haunting romance that swells on the waves of pride, Victorian prudishness, and passion. The four main characters embody the times and social attitudes. Mute and cold and bargained through an arranged marriage, Ada arrives on the island with her mischievous young daughter and her precious piano. Her new husband Stewart is a socially inhibited and emotionally repressed English settler who has a penchant for mistrusting others. He decides that the piano is to be left on the beach where they disembarked, in the rain and weather because of the trouble it would be to move it piano into the settlement. He fails to see how important the piano is to his bride; how it is her only means of expression. The fourth character, Baines, is another English settler, quiet and isolated, who comes to be the most complex of all.

"The Piano" is gray and dank like the emotions that burden the settlers as they attempt to maintain a semblance of western civilization in a rainy island settlement surrounded by Maori natives who adopt the apparel of their new neighbors, but not their repressed notions of self and society. Only Baines has embraced native ways, and it is he who brings those moments of emerging tenderness and truth.

The pace of this film matches the pace of the seduction, beginning with slow caution and rejection, moving carefully through the strangest courtship ever, to its resolution, fraught with loss and sacrifice.

"The Piano" won many awards, including three Oscars; it deserved every one of them.

V.I.P. (1998–2002)

Surprisingly entertaining

[2 September 2002]

Like so many I know, I have little interest in any show with a high jiggle factor. I was prepared to hate V.I.P. I caught one episode to watch a guest star and found myself laughing and actually enjoying the show. V.I.P. comes at you on at least two different levels. On one, there is exciting action and uncomplicated plots typical of the A-Team: bad guys who do bad things always get caught by an eclectic team of good guys, each with special talents and rampant egos. On another level, there is glamour, glitz, ditz, jiggle, and jokes making fun of glamour, glitz, ditz, and jiggle, most at Miss Anderson's willing expense. I would recommend V.I.P. and ask that you give it a try. It's actually a fun show.

Popular (1999–2001)

A Must-See for anyone who went to high school -- Funny!

[6 May 2000]

The show's premise is shallow -- but don't let that fool you! It is what the writers, producers, and actors do with this premise that creates an entirely new twist on "popular." This show is a live action cartoon. Slick, funny, sharp, witty, and poignant in just the right doses. Highly recommended for anyone who went to high school. I never miss it.

The Untouchables (1993–1994)

I really liked this series

[4 April 2000]

I honestly enjoyed this series. It moved fast and had great music. In fact, I wish I could find the theme song an a CD someplace. There were moments in which the writers drew parallels between Ness and Capone, revealing that the two men actually had some things in common. I never missed an episode and was truly disappointed that it was not renewed for a second season.

Pensacola: Wings of Gold (1997–2000)

Excellent First Season

[23 March 1999]

The first season was excellent with its four Marines -- the Sea Dragons. The show was about "teamwork" with its exciting story lines about how four people come together as a unit. They are intelligent and respectful of one another, their superiors, and their assignments. The first season portrayed women and male/female relationships in a very positive manner, without the degrading cheap attention-getting tricks like boobs, bodies, bikinis, and the sexual innuendo that slimed across the screen in the second season. Yes, the Sea Dragons are the best of the best, and first season took my breath away.