Spectacle: Elvis Costello with . . . S2: review

June 22, 2011

The Emmy-nominated Spectacle: Elvis Costello with . . . finds talented singer/songwriter Elvis Costello querying various musicians about the craft. He then performs with them or collaborates on various songs of his own as well as their songs or a mish-mash of both. S2 includes guests The Edge, Bono, Neko Case, Ron Sexsmith, Sheryl Crow, Lyle Lovett and Bruce Springsteen. As an interviewer, Costello is affable, comfortable and an astute listener. Most talk is of production and admiration between Costello and whomever his guest happens to be. In Episode 4, Mary-Louise Parker interviews Costello. Apparently she’s a music writer according to Costello’s intro of the Emmy and Tony-award winner. “You made so many uncool things cool,” gushes Parker. “All my learning was just from listening,” Costello remarks. He also says he doesn’t read much or read much literature (only history) because “there’s too much music to hear.”

The two-disc set includes behind-the-scenes documentary and four bonus songs from Elvis and The Imposters.

Studio: SpyBox Pictures
Running time: 350 minutes
Release Date: June 7, 2011
PR: MVD visual

Comments Off | DVD, Music, TV | Tagged: , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Amy Steele

Nora Roberts’ Carnal Innocence: TV review [Lifetime]

June 13, 2011

If there’s a pretty girl, Tucker can’t be far behind.
–Josie Longstreet

World-renowned violinist Caroline Waverley [Burn Notice’s Gabrielle Anwar] takes a break from her current tour and returns to her grandmother’s house in Innocence, Miss. where she spent many summers in her youth. Of course with a name like Innocence, you know bad things will happen. Caroline runs into charming yet arrogant ladies’ man Tucker Longstreet [Something Borrowed’s Colin Egglesfield], a member of one of the town’s most prominent and wealthy families. The next day, Caroline discovers a body on her property. It turns out that Tucker had an affair with the deceased woman, Etta Lou. They were seen fighting in the diner the day before. Etta Lou slapped him and said she was pregnant. When the FBI comes to town, Tucker’s the center of the investigation as someone murdered two women he dated. It looks suspicious though he claims his innocence. Caroline falls for Tucker and becomes entangled in the mystery surrounding him and the Longstreet family. Etta Lou’s father comes after Tucker with a shotgun [while he's at Caroline's] and other bizarre events ensue.

Nora Roberts’ Carnal Innocence brims with violence through fisticuffs and gunfire and knives. I figured out the killer 27 minutes into the TV movie but there still were a few twists after that. The Southern setting allows for high drama. A great creepy soundtrack provides additional suspense. Egglesfield turns in a winning performance as the charismatic and mysterious Tucker. There seemed too much an age difference between Egglesfield and Anwar, so I wasn’t pleased with that pairing. All in all, Nora Roberts’ Carnal Innocence is a solid television thriller for a Monday night in June.

Nora Roberts’ Carnal Innocence premieres Monday, June 13 at 8pm ET/PT

Comments Off | TV | Tagged: , , , | Permalink
Posted by Amy Steele

Last Man Standing: TV review/interview with Catherine Bell [Lifetime Television]

June 4, 2011

Why the military let a computer tech wiz like you go, I’ll never know.
–Abby’s husband Nick [Anthony Michael Hall]

Catherine Bell stars in Lifetime’s Last Man Standing as Abby Collins. She’s happily married to a local veterinarian [Hall] with a daughter. Nearly seven years before, she served in the Marine Corps Black Ops in Afghanistan as Lt. Abby Spencer. Her unit’s assignment to protect an Afghan chemist who would testify against Al Qaeda went terribly wrong and somebody “sold the guy out.”

Abby receives a photo of her unit of three with a note on the back: “You know what happens to the last man standing.” Then another unit mate, Jeremy Davis [Mekhi Phifer] calls to inform her that the other unit member, Sam Pratt, committed suicide. She starts having flashbacks. As Abby tells her husband that with only three in the unit, they got close. Shockingly, someone kidnaps Abby’s husband and insists she follow orders or he’ll be executed. Last Man Standing proves to be an exciting thriller with a surprise twist at the end.

Bell produced the film and her husband, Adam Beason co-wrote the script with Jolene Rice.

I spoke to Catherine Bell on Thursday.

Amy Steele: What do you like about Lt. Spencer?

Catherine Bell: Lt. Spencer is buried in her past and I really love that there’s this woman who has this beautiful, simple soccer mom life and this entire hidden event that you know nothing about until a former member of her unit dies and her husband gets kidnapped. Her former skill-set kicks in and she’s got to do everything she can to get him back and keep their daughter safe. I love it. Doing action heroes and action movies and doing my own stunts. It’s really one of my favorite things to do. I had a blast.

Amy Steele: How is it to go from playing an Army wife to playing a former Marine?

Catherine Bell: To me the best thing about acting is mixing it up. Going from playing a wife who started off being abused by her son and going through all this emotional stuff and then going into full on action mode and special ops, secret agent stuff. Maybe next I’ll be able to do a period piece or something completely different.

Amy Steele: How does being a producer change your connection to a project?

Catherine Bell: I’m always going to be connected to any project I’m doing as an actor because I wouldn’t do it if I didn’t love it. Being a producer, especially on something like this where we really created it from the ground up, that’s just a whole other level. Definitely even more passion and even more connection to it.

Last Man Standing premieres Monday, June 6 at 8 pm PT/ET on Lifetime Television.

Comments Off | Interview, TV | Tagged: , | Permalink
Posted by Amy Steele

Identity: DVD review

May 3, 2011

When people believe something, especially stupid people, it’s hard to get them to change their minds.
–John Bloom [Aidan Gillen]

Scotland Yard has recently established a specialty task force focusing on identity theft. Detective Superintendent Martha Lawson [Keeley Hawes--MI-5] leads The Identity Unit and she’s joined by former undercover officer John Bloom [Aidan Gillen--The Wire], IT specialist Tessa [Holly Aird], easy-going José [Elyes Gabel] and the ever skeptical Anthony [Shaun Parkes-- The Inspector Lynley Mysteries]. The detectives are all intriguing, diverse characters.

Every episode delves into the intricate complex reasons why someone would steal another’s identity—greed, revenge, jealousy. In one episode, a woman murders someone she befriends abroad and assumes her identity. She suffered brain damage and wants those who hurt her to pay. In another episode, someone leaks the identity of a woman in witness protection. When her son gets snatched while Bloom is offsite dealing with a personal matter, members of the team question his loyalties.

Identity also focuses on some of the central members of the team. As the head of this unit, Martha Lawson [Hawes] faces the challenge of being taken seriously by her superiors and managing the egos and personality clashes of her team. DI John Bloom [Gillen] has a darker, enigmatic past. His girlfriend’s connected to the Turkish mafia and he utilizes rogue tactics such as stabbing a man in the leg so that his daughter talks. Cool editing, a stellar cast and crisp, twisted plots fuel this British television series.

Starring: Keely Hawes, Aidan Gillen, Shaun Parkes, Elyes Gabel, Holly Aird
Studio: Acorn Media
Rating: Not Rated
Running time: 279 minutes
Release Date: May 3, 2011
PR: Acorn Media

purchase at Amazon: Identity

Comments Off | DVD, TV | Tagged: , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Amy Steele

In the Realm: QUOTES

April 30, 2011

Depression can crush you.
–The Cry of the Owl

We’re all just one small adjustment away from making our lives work.
–How Do You Know

I gotta get better at shapes.
–Stewie, Family Guy

You should never settle for who you are.
–Michael Scott, The Office

Comments Off | Books, Film, TV | Tagged: , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Amy Steele

Amanda de Cadenet interview program The Conversation coming to LIFETIME

April 28, 2011

Lifetime Television plans to air The Conversation, hosted by British television personality and renowned photographer Amanda de Cadenet and co-produced by de Cadenet and Demi Moore.

The Conversation will feature interviews with internationally famous women, as well as lesser-known figures, and include topics universal to women. During the hour-long program de Cadenet will speak with her interview subjects about a wide variety of topics including: sexuality; body image; career and finances; politics; relationships and human rights.

Lifetime has ordered eight episodes of The Conversation.

de Cadenet said, “The Conversation came from the many questions I was asking the women in my own life, whilst trying to manage being a mother to three kids and wife to my husband, maintain a career and not lose myself in all of it. Every woman should have access to the information and solutions we talk about on this show. The Conversation will open the doors on the universal language of women and allow them to do that.”

Amanda de Cadenet began her career at age of 14 as the host of the U.K. television shows, The Word and Breakfast. After becoming one of the U.K.’s best known personalities, she eventually decided that her true place was behind the camera and began taking pictures. She is the youngest woman to shoot a Vogue magazine cover. In 2005, she released her first book of photographs, Rare Birds.

ABOUT LIFETIME TELEVISION

Lifetime Television, the number one rated women’s network, is committed to offering the highest quality entertainment and information programming, and advocating a wide range of issues affecting women and their families. Lifetime Television®, Lifetime Movie Network®, Lifetime Real Women® and Lifetime Digital™ (which includes myLifetime.com, LMN.tv, Lifetime Games, Roiworld.com, DressUpChallenge.com, MothersClick.com and LifetimeMoms.com) are part of Lifetime Entertainment Services, LLC, a subsidiary of A&E Television Networks, LLC. A&E Television Networks is a joint venture of the Disney-ABC Television Group, Hearst Corporation and NBC Universal.

Comments Off | TV | Tagged: , , | Permalink
Posted by Amy Steele

Committed: TV movie review [Lifetime]

April 13, 2011

Celeste: I’m a doctor. I came here to work with you.
Dr. Quilley: I’m sure you’ll find the work fulfilling but you can’t leave.

In this generally creepy and rather sensational movie, Dr. Celeste DuPont [Andrea Roth] arrives at the prestigious Milburn Institute thinking she’s going to be working with criminally insane patients but she’s quickly told that she’s a patient herself. She fails several escape attempts and begins to experience strange visions or dreams [she keeps seeing herself locked in a cage]. Reality and imagination blur. One morning she finds all her clothes slashed. She begins to question her sanity or whether she’s being tricked into staying at the facility. It’s a strange concept to be locked in and told you have no control over when you can leave. Despite being a patient in the facility, she’s asked to consult with Dr. Desmond Moore [Richard Burgi] and events spin even further out of control. Celeste dines with other doctors instead of patients but she’s analyzed and also has been asked to analyze others. Andrea Roth [Rescue Me, Blue Bloods] plays part sleuth/part psychiatrist in a convincingly conflicted manner. While some parts of Committed are rather preposterous, it’s quite a good TV thriller to fill your Sunday evening.

Committed premieres Sunday, April 17 on Lifetime

Comments Off | TV | Tagged: , , | Permalink
Posted by Amy Steele

Week in the Realm: QUOTES

March 30, 2011

There are two things I know about white people, they love Rachel Ray and they are terrified of curses.
“Harvest Festival,” Parks and Recreation

I don’t even want to be here. The air is too fresh. It’s disgusting. I can’t breathe.
– April [Aubrey Plaza], “Camping,” Parks and Recreation

To me, love is a pure idea forged in flesh, awkwardly maybe, but it had to connect to somewhere, despite twists and turns of underground cable. An all-to-imperfect thing. Sometimes the lines get crossed. Or you get a wrong number. But that’s nobody’s fault. It’ll always be like that, so long as we exist in this physical form. As a matter of principle.
Dance Dance Dance by Haruki Murakami

Cora, Countess of Grantham [Elizabeth McGovern]: I might send her to New York.

Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham [Maggie Smith]: I don’t think we’re that desperate.
–Downton Abbey

Comments Off | Books, TV | Tagged: , , | Permalink
Posted by Amy Steele

Week in the Realm: QUOTES

March 24, 2011

I want to be a person who solves problems and not a person who creates problems.
–Star Jones, Celebrity Apprentice

What I really want to do is change the lives of a group of people with the same material they use every day.
–Vik Muniz, Wasteland

The Florrick children just really love black people.
-Grace, The Good Wife

I had to play Arafat in like a peace process.
–Boston Rob, Survivor

As the evening wore on, it became increasingly clear how much he resented his mother. This was an emotion entirely foreign to me– my mother had always been the most important person in my life; even when I was angry enough to feel a brief sting of hatred toward her, she was always the person most necessary to me . . .
–Leon Bing, Swans and Pistols

Comments Off | Books, DVD, TV | Tagged: , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Amy Steele

Mildred Pierce on HBO March 27

March 21, 2011

Synopsis: story of a proud single mother struggling to earn her daughter’s love during the Great Depression in middle-class Los Angeles.

The five-part miniseries, produced in association with MGM, will follow the story laid out by James M. Cain in his 1941 novel of the same name.

co-written and directed by Todd Haynes [Safe, Far from Heaven]

starring:

Kate Winslet [Revolutionary Road, The Reader]
Guy Pearce [The Hurt Locker, Memento]
Evan Rachel Wood [True Blood]
Brian O’Byrne [Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead]
James LeGros [Zodiac, Mercy]
Melissa Leo [Frozen River, The Fighter]
Mare Winningham [George Wallace]
Hope Davis [In Treatment]

Comments Off | TV | Tagged: , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Amy Steele

« Previous Entries
Next Entries »
Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 1,891 other followers