Tag Archives: review

Concert Film Review: ABBA: The Movie (dir by Lasse Hallstrom)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

The 1977 film, Abba: The Movie, is really two movies in one.

One of the movies, and the one that will probably most appeal to fans of the group, is a cinema verité-style look at ABBA touring Australia.  This part of the movie not only features the band playing their best-known songs in concert but it also features some behind-the-scenes footage of the members of ABBA trying to enjoy their time Australia.  They struggle to adjust to Australian culture and the English language.  Agnetha Fältskog complains about the way the tabloids focus on her body as opposed to her singing.  The emphasis is on the members of ABBA being down-to-Earth and friendly professionals who love making music but who, even more importantly, love hanging out together and making their fans happy.

The second movie is about an Australian DJ named Ashley Wallace (Robert Hughes) who is ordered to get an interview with ABBA before they leave the continent.  It won’t prove easy.  For one thing, Ashley really isn’t sure who ABBA is, beyond knowing that they’re a famous pop band.  (Ashley’s musical tastes seem to learn towards country and western.)  Secondly, ABBA is always surrounded by a mob of fans and bodyguards and it’s very difficult to get close enough to even ask them for an interview.  Third, ABBA distrusts reporters, especially after the tabloids print a bunch of salacious articles about Agnetha.  Fourth, Ashley is an idiot.

Seriously, Ashley is his own worst enemy.  If ABBA heads to the west, you can be sure that Ashley will catch the next train heading east.  Even when Ashley does finally manage to talk to ABBA’s manager and schedule an interview, he ends up oversleeping and missing his appointment!  Seriously, just think about this.  Ashley has been told that his entire future depends on getting an interview with ABBA, a task that soon proves to be nearly impossible.  Then, when Ashley finally manages to get a chance to conduct this all-important interview, it doesn’t occur to him to set his alarm to wake him up early.  There’s a word for that type of behavior and that word is “stupidity.”

As he struggles to get some time with ABBA, Ashley also takes time to interview people on the street about the opinion of ABBA.  Surprise!  Almost everyone loves ABBA!  I guess that’s to be expected, considering that the movie is named after them.  It would probably be counter-productive to have Ashley interview a bunch of people who can’t stand ABBA and would rather be listening to Led Zeppelin.  (There are a few people who tell Ashley that they don’t like ABBA but they’re all losers.)  Ashley spends so much time talking to people who love ABBA that he soon comes to love ABBA and appreciate their music as well.  He even has a series of fantasy and daydreams.  He imagines that the two men in ABBA are his best friends.  He dreams of being loved by the two women in ABBA.  Through Ashley, the audience is provided a view of how one goes from being indifferent to being a fan.

But most viewers won’t care about Ashley.  They’ll be watching for ABBA.  The performances are strong.  The members of the band seem to truly enjoy being on stage and interacting with their fans.  Interestingly, the members of ABBA are likable but a bit bland off-stage.  They’re people who truly come alive when they’re performing but who are much more subdued and down-to-Earth offstage.  Indeed, it almost seems as if Ashley is wasting his time trying to get an interview.  In this film, to watch ABBA perform on stage is to know all that you need to know.

Late Night Retro Television Review: Degrassi Junior High 2.11 “Trust Me”

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Welcome to Late Night Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past!  On Sunday, I will be reviewing the Canadian series, Degrassi Junior High, which aired on CBC and PBS from 1987 to 1989!  The series can be streamed on YouTube!

This week, it’s a Zit Remedy sleepover!

Episode 2.11 “Trust Me”

(Dir by Kit Hood, originally aired on March 14th, 1988)

Snake is super-excited!  His parents are going out of town and he’s going to have the house to himself for a day and a night.  Joey is excited because that means he and Wheels can crash over at Snake’s.  Joey wants to talk about to them about his plans to take their band, the Zit Remedy, to superstardom.  Joey gets even more excited when he sees that Snake’s parents’ left their car behind.

Here’s my question.  Snake’s real name is Archie but he’s called Snake for reasons that I’ve never understood.  Wheels’s real name is Derek Wheeler and his nickname obviously has to do with his last name.  So, why is Joey Jeremiah just Joey?  Why doesn’t he get a supercool nickname?  Maybe Joey wouldn’t always feel the need to show off if he had a better nickname.

Joey, perhaps hoping to get a nickname like Drivey or Speedy, swears that he knows how to drive.  At first, Snake sensibly says that no one is going to drive his parents’ car.  But then everyone oversleeps and Wheels awakens with only 15 minutes to get to the eye doctor!  (Wheels has already missed several appointments and is running the risk of getting grounded.)  Joey offers to drive Wheels to the doctor’s office.

Amazingly enough, Joey manages to get Wheels to his appointment without crashing the car.  But then, Joey insists that he and Snake should get breakfast.  While Joey is ordering French fries at a local Toronto diner, a truck backs into the car and appears to break the taillight.  Using the $85 that the band was going to spend on an amp, Joey and Snake get the taillight fixed.  But then it turns out that the taillight had been broken for a week and, when Snake’s parents see that it has been fixed, they realize something happened while they were gone.

Phone calls are made.  Snake and Wheels are grounded and ordered not to hang out with each other outside of school.  And Joey’s parents decide to take away Joey’s keyboard.  IS THIS THE END OF THE ZIT REMEDY!?

(Of course, anyone who has watched any of the various versions of Degrassi knows that the Zit Remedy is going to be around for a very long time, despite the fact that they only wrote and performed one song.  Still, I appreciated the show’s attempt to build some suspense as to whether or not the band will ever actually get a chance to perform in public.)

Meanwhile, Spike is kicked out of school!  Booo!  The Farrell Twins, who have apparently decided they need more friends than just Stephanie, agree to bring her homework to her house so that Spike won’t get held back a year.  Good for them.

This was a good episode, largely because it explored the dynamics of the Joey/Snake/Wheels friendship.  Joey is the one who enthusiastically pursues every idea and who has limitless faith in himself and his friends.  Snake is the pragmatist.  Wheels is somewhere in between.  Joey needs Snake to keep him grounded but Snake needs Joey to remind him that it’s okay to dream and have fun.  Watching the three of them hanging out in this episode, it’s hard not to think about what the future holds for them.  They’re not going to be rock stars but Joey is going to find success as a father and a car salesman.  Snake is going to eventually be principal of Degrassi.  And Wheels …. well, let’s deal with that when we have to.  This is one of those episodes that’s more fun if you don’t know what’s going to happen to everyone in the future.  If you do know, it’s actually rather sad to see everyone so hopeful and innocent.

Next week, the sleazy substitute returns to Degrassi!

Late Night Retro Television Review: Check It Out! 1.22 “Sex Appeal”

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Welcome to Late Night Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past!  On Saturdays, I will be reviewing the Canadian sitcom, Check it Out, which ran in syndication from 1985 to 1988.  The entire show is currently streaming on Tubi!

This week, the first season comes to an end!  Will Howard be promoted and, if he is, will there be a season 2?  Let’s try to find out.

Episode 1.22 “Sex Appeal”

(Dir by Alan Erlich, originally aired on March 12th, 1986)

Who will be the new vice president of the Cobb Corporation?  Will it be Howard or will it be another store manager?  Mrs. Cobb has sent her daughter, Tiffany (Ruth Buzzi), to interview and test both men.  When Tiffany arrives at Howard’s store, she takes one look at him and decides that she’ll promote him but first, she wants to seduce him.  Soon, Tiffany is forcing Howard to identify all of the items in the produce section with his eyes closed.  When she places his hands on her face, Howard says, “Uhmmm …. pineapple!  Moldy peaches!”

When Edna comes to the office late and discovers Howard and Tiffany in what appears to be a compromising position, she is scandalized.  Howard insists that nothing happened and that Tiffany came onto him.  He announces that he is charging Tiffany with sexual harrassment….

….and this somehow leads to a mock trial that is held in the breakroom, with all of the employees watching and Mrs. Cobb acting as judge.  Is Mrs. Cobb really the best person to judge an accusation made against her daughter?  Is this how they do things in Canada?

Howard is, of course, cleared of any wrong-doing.  We all knew that was going to happen, largely because Tiffany is portrayed as being insane from the minute she shows up at the store.  So, we get a resolution as far as the harassment is concerned but the whole storyline about Howard wanting a promotion is forgotten about and left unresolved.

And so, the first season ends with a bit of whimper.  The first season was uneven.  At its best, season one of Check It Out! had some episodes that were enjoyably weird.  Any episode in which Gordon Clapp, Kathleen Laskey or Jeff Pustil were allowed to take center stage was guaranteed to be memorable.  But there were also plenty of episodes like this one, where the show couldn’t seem to figure out whether or not Howard was a competent, well-meaning professional or a total and complete moron.  Regardless of the individual content of each episode, there was never anything particularly subtle about Don Adams’s performance as Howard.  For some episodes that worked.  And, in episodes like this one, it definitely did not.

Next week, we start season 2!  Two cast members say goodbye while Gordon Clapp’s Viker becomes a regular.  Since season 2 is still taking place in the supermarket and Howard is still the manager, I’m going to assume that the other guy got the promotion.

Lisa Marie’s Week In Television: 3/24/24 — 3/30/24

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Spending this week at my sister Megan’s, I haven’t really watched that much television, beyond the shows that I regularly watch for my Retro Television Reviews.

Megan and I did watch The Young and the Restless, General Hospital, The Bold and the Beautiful, and Days of our Lives this week.  I’m a bit off-and-on when it comes to watching daytime dramas.  I usually enjoy them when I do watch them but I also only tend to watch when I’ve got someone around who wants to watch with me.  I guess I like talking through the boring parts.

I spent quite a bit of time flipping back and forth from Fox to CNN to MSNBC to follow all of the latest on the Baltimore bridge collapse.  There has been a lot of criticism and a lot of conspiracy theories in the days following the disaster and that’s understandable.  Criticism and conspiracies are how most people deal with tragedies of overwhelming proportion.  But there was also a lot of heroism on display right after the disaster occurred.  It’s good to reminded that not everyone is as narcissistic in real life as they seem to be on social media.

Every night, Megan and I ducked into her office and binged California Dreams.  It was fun to revisit the show.  Megan agrees, by the way, with those who think that Lorena and I have a lot in common.  We intended to watch a few episodes of City Guys and One World as well but, in both cases, Megan said that sitting through one episode was more than enough.

Erin and I watched It’s The Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown on Thursday night.  It was cute but I always feel bad for Charlie Brown.  Everyone gets something from the Easter Beagle except for him.  I’m not a dog person but I do like beagles.

On Friday night, I watched another episode of Rollergames with Jeff and our friends Pat and Matt.  Watching people get tossed over the railings was fun.

And, on Saturday morning, I got caught up with the latest season of It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia!  I love those bastards.

Retro Television Review: Welcome Back, Kotter 3.15 “A Sweathog Christmas Special”

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Welcome to Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past!  On Saturdays, I will be reviewing Welcome Back Kotter, which ran on ABC  from 1975 to 1979.  The entire show is currently streaming on Tubi!

Merry Christmas from the Kotters!

Episode 3.15 “A Sweathog Christmas Special”

(Dir by Mel Stuart, originally aired on December 15th, 1977)

The Kotters are trimming the tree and getting ready to celebrate Christmas.  (Before anyone points out the obvious, it’s mentioned that they also celebrated Hannukah.)  Suddenly, the Sweathogs show up.  Shouldn’t the Sweathogs be with their own families?  Vinnie’s mother is a saint.  Epstein has dozens of sisters.  Horshack’s family needs him!  Freddie …. well, we’ve never really met Freddie’s family but still, he has one.  Then suddenly, Woodman shows up, dressed as Santa Claus!  Doesn’t Woodman have a family?  Actually, he probably doesn’t.

Anyway, all of this leads to everyone sharing their favorite memories and …. IT’S A FLASHBACK EPISODE!

Hey, who am I to complain?  Flashback episodes are very easy to review, because nothing happens.  And the clips are from episodes that have already been reviewed.  It’s Easter weekend.  I’m happy to have something easy to deal with.

That said, I will point out one interesting thing about this episode.  Even though it aired halfway through the third season, most of the flashbacks were from the first season.  We revisited the Sweathogs having a rumble in the school courtyard.  We once again witnessed Vinnie searching the Kotter refrigerator and complaining about the lack of food.  “Hi there,” Freddie said about a dozen times.  Julie tried to get Gabe to eat her “famous tuna casserole.”  “Up your nose with a rubber hose,” Barbarino said several times.  Woodman cheerfully predicted the end of the world several times and it was interesting to revisit his descent into madness.  We spent a lot of time revisiting the first season but there were no flashbacks to Julie finding out she was pregnant or Julie giving birth while the Sweathogs sat in the hospital waiting room.  Seeing as how this was the twins’s first holiday, you would think Gabe and Julie would bring them up at some point.

It’s as if the show itself was acknowledging just how much better the first season was than the seasons that followed.  Watching those season one flashbacks, it was a bit jarring to be reminded of the fact that this show started out as the fairly realistic story of a dedicated teacher who refused to give up on his remedial students.  The first season was full of broad comedy but it also had a lot of heart and sincerity, which are two qualities that have been missing from much of the third season.  It was nice to be reminded of the fact that the show was not always as cartoonish as it later became.

Anyway, on that note — Merry Christmas!

Oh!  For those keeping track, Gabe’s pre-show joke was about his Uncle Arnold.  Arnold got a hearing aid.  It didn’t work well.

Late Night Retro Television Review: Friday the 13th 1.23 “Badge of Honor”

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Welcome to Late Night Retro Television Reviews, a new feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past! On Fridays, I will be reviewing Friday the 13th: The Series, a show which ran in syndication from 1987 to 1990. The show can be found on YouTube!

This week …. OH MY GOD, IT’S JOHN STOCKWELL!

Episode 1.23 “Badge of Honor”

(Dir by Michelle Manning, originally aired on July 5th, 1988)

Victor Haas (David Proval) is a club owner and also the head of Canada’s most violent ring of counterfeiters.  Detective Russ Sharko (Val Avery) is obsessed with taking Victor down.  Victor attempts to dissuade Sharko by using a car bomb to take out Sharko’s wife.  That just makes Sharko more determined.  However, when Sharko’s obsession leads to a bust-gone-wrong and a dead cop, Sharko is kicked off the force.  Sharko now has to take Victor and his man down on his own.  Fortunately, he happens to own an antique sheriff’s badge.  When he pins the badge on someone, that person suffers a violent death.

This sounds like a job for Micki and Ryan.  (Jack, again, is out of town.)  However, Micki and Ryan are distracted by the arrival of Tim (played by one of my favorite 80s leading men, the superhot John Stockwell).  Tim is Micki’s ex-boyfriend and soon, he and Micki are picking up where they left off.  (When the season began, Micki was engaged so I guess Tim must have been the boyfriend before the fiancé.)  Ryan gets jealous because — surprise! — he’s kind of in love with Micki.  Of course, just a few episodes ago, Ryan was in love with a preacher’s daughter.  And then, after that, he was in love with Catherine, who was murdered by an evil journalist.  Ryan seems to fall in love easily so….

Actually, wait a minute.  RYAN AND MICKI ARE COUSINS!  WHAT ARE YOU DOING, RYAN!?  Of course, they’re not first cousins but still …. it just doesn’t seem right!

Anyway, at first, it seems like Ryan might be correct to be suspicious of Tim because Tim approaches Victor and offers to help him with his counterfeiting ring.  But then we learn that Tim is with the FBI!  Why is the FBI working in Canada?  I guess maybe the show’s producers were still trying to convince viewers that Friday the 13th took place in America, despite the fact that all of the directors and most of the actors were Canadian and the show itself was clearly filmed in wintry Canada.  (This episode is a bit of an oddity in that all three of the main guest stars — David Proval, John Stockwell, and Val Avery — were born in the Lower 48.)  The important thing is that Tim’s a good guy but — uh oh! — Tim also gets shot and dies at the end of the episode.  Micki is a little bit sad but Ryan is kind of relieved because it means he’ll have a chance to hook up with his cousin….

SERIOUSLY, WHAT THE HELL!?

This episode got a little bogged down with all of the counterfeiting stuff.  It felt more like an episode of Miami Vice than Friday the 13th.  The badge was also a bit of a boring antique because it didn’t really do anything other than kill people.  Other antiques changed the personality of the people who owned them and demanded a quid pro quo for their powers.  This antique is far more simple and kind of dull.

Oh well.  It’s a less-than-memorable episode but John Stockwell was hot and I’m a bit disappointed that he apparently won’t be making a return appearance.

Next week, we meet Ryan’s father and discover that he’s not a good man at all!

Retro Television Review: T and T 3.2 “Hargrove’s Call”

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Welcome to Retro Television Reviews, a new feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past! On Fridays, I will be reviewing T. and T., a Canadian show which ran in syndication from 1987 to 1990.  The show can be found on Tubi!

This week, T.S. investigates a shooting involving a retired police officer.  I wonder what Amy would think of all this.

Episode 3.2 “Hargrove’s Call”

(Dir by Don McCutcheon, originally aired on January 13th, 1990)

Bitter, retired cop E.V. Richter (J. Winston Carroll) lives alone, in a house that sits in a neighborhood that has seen better days.  He spends his days drinking and his nights fighting with the teenagers who live in the neighborhood.  One night, the teens are setting off firecrackers in an alley behind Richter’s house.  When Richter yells at them, one of the teens starts to approach his house with a firecracker.  Richter shoots him and then tries to plant a gun on the body.  However, by the time the police arrive, the gun has disappeared.

The wounded teen’s mother recruits Terri and Turner to prove that her son wasn’t carrying a gun when he was shot.  While Turner investigates and tries to discover what happened to the gun, Detective Dick Hargrove (David Hemblen) most deal with his own suspicion that his former colleague is not being honest about what happened.

This was an interesting episode, in that Richter was definitely the bad guy but he also had a legitimate reason to be upset.  Setting off firecrackers behind someone’s house is pretty obnoxious and responding to homeowner’s complaint by trying to toss a firecracker at him is …. well, actually, it’s kind of illegal.  At least, it is down here.  Maybe it’s different up in Canada.  Maybe in Canada, they settle disagreements with firecrackers all the time, I don’t know.  That said, when Richter tries to plant the gun, he reveals that he’s gone over the edge and it becomes apparent that if he hadn’t shot the kid over the firecrackers, he would have shot him over something else.  T and T will never be known as a nuanced or particularly thoughtful show but at least this episode tried to do something more than just follow the standard “Mr. T growls and beats people up” plot.

That said, I still find it weird and distracting that everyone on the show acts as if Terri has always lived in the neighborhood and has always been some sort of crusader.  Two episodes into season three and there’s still been no mention of what happened to Amy or why Terri is now suddenly the one in charge. Are we meant to assume that Terri was always around but not just seen during the first two seasons?  Or did something happen to Amy that required Terri to move to Toronto or wherever this show is supposed to take place?  The lack of even the most rudimentary of explanations feels weird and distracting.  Obviously, T and T was never a stickler for continuity but having a major character just vanish without explanation is a big deal.  Shouldn’t Turner be out looking for Amy or something?

Maybe that’ll happen next week.  We’ll see!

Music Video of the Day: Don’t Let Me Be The Last To Know by Britney Spears (2001, dir by Herb Ritts)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

It’s Britney on the beach!  This video was controversial when it was first released.  It seems rather tame now.

This video was directed by photographer Herb Ritts and Britney’s boyfriend was played by French model Brice Durand.  Supposedly, neither Justin Timberlake nor Lynne Spears were happy with this video.  Lynne felt it was too explicit and Justin apparently had an issue with Britney kissing another guy, even though Britney was just acting, it was just for the music video, and it’s not as if Justin wasn’t messing around behind Britney’s back.

Enjoy!

Late Night Retro Television Review: Highway to Heaven 2.3 “Bless The Boys In Blue”

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Welcome to Late Night Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past!  On Thursdays, I will be reviewing Highway to Heaven, which aired on NBC from 1984 to 1989.  The entire show is currently streaming on Freevee and several other services!

This week, Jonathan and Mark become cops!

Episode 2.3 “Bless The Boys In Blue”

(Dir by Victor French, originally aired on October 2nd, 1985)

Well, here’s an episode that would never be made today.

While driving through Los Angeles, Mark talks about a story that has been in the news.  A police sergeant shot a young black teenager outside of a crack house.  The teenager was holding a gun but it was subsequently discovered that the gun was unloaded.  The policeman has been suspended from the force.  Mark, a former cop, is on the sergeant’s side.  Jonathan argues that the sergeant could have tried to talk to the teenager instead of shooting him.  Mark claims that Jonathan has no idea what it’s like to be a cop because he’s an angel.  Mark makes the mistake of saying that he wishes Jonathan could experience what it’s actually like to be a cop.

God — or “The Boss” as the show calls him — hears Mark’s wish and makes it come true.  Mark and Jonathan’s assignment is to become cops and, just to make things interesting, God takes away Jonathan’s special powers.  Jonathan becomes human, once again.  If Jonathan gets shot, he’ll actually get wounded.  One gets the feeling that Jonathan is being punished for his pride, though the show never comes out and says it.

On the first day on the job, Jonathan tries to talk a burglar into putting down his gun and it doesn’t go well.  If not for Mark surprising the burglar, Jonathan probably would have gotten shot.  Having learned his lesson, Jonathan is given back his powers so that he can convince the dead teenager’s father to forgive the cop who shot him….

If any show aired an episode like this today, it would be greeted with howls of protest and those howls wouldn’t necessarily be unjustified.  The episode is unabashedly pro-cop, to the extent that it doesn’t even seem to consider the countless number of police shootings that have been ruled unjustified over the years.  As well, asking the teenager’s father to forgive the man who shot his son so that the man himself can work through his guilt feels incredibly selfish on the part of Jonathan.

Then again, the police that we see in this 1985 show have little in common with the police we see in 2024.  For the most part, the cops in this episode walk a beat or drive around in their squad cars.  They’re normal, blue collar folks who are doing their job and who do their best to be polite to everyone.  There’s no body armor.  No one looks like they’ve spent weeks in the gym.  There’s no shaved heads or terse military-style lingo.  There’s no dismissive talk of “bad guys” and “good guys.”  There are no tanks rolling down the city streets.  In many way, this episode feels like it’s taking place in a different reality and, to an extent, I guess it is.  This episode is 39 years old but it feels like a work of ancient lore.