Our Picks Reviews - Page 38

Now available on DVD, this four-part PBS documentary spotlights the stars and shows that laid the small-screen cornerstones for what would become an empire. In “Late Night,” “Sitcoms,” “Game Shows” and “Variety,” TV’s grand and glorious, pre-cable past is recalled with rare highlights, insightful interviews and warm strolls down memory lane by Andy Griffith, Pat Boone, Carol Burnette, Tim Conway, Dick Cavett and dozens of other broadcast pioneers.
—Neil Pond, American Profile

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For much of the previous century, Grange fairs were an integral part of life in rural America, opportunities for otherwise-isolated farming families to congregate, socialize, compete their livestock, produce and recipes, enjoy live entertainment and cut loose on carnival rides. This Emmy-winning 2005 documentary, filmed at one of the nation’s last remaining Grange Fairs—in Pennsylvania’s Centre County—is a colorful salute to the excitement, emotion and communal energies of this once-thriving, now disappearing slice of pastoral Americana.
—Neil Pond, American Profile

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Martin’s unflinchingly personal memoir of his troubled childhood, early career and eventual trajectory to stand-up-comedy superstardom is a riveting, revealing read. It’ll make you see the “Wild and Crazy Guy” in a totally new light—one that gives fresh illumination to his act and engagingly unpacks the family tensions, anxiety attacks, career uncertainty, hypochondria, perfectionist streak and other baggage that trailed him to the top.
—Neil Pond, American Profile

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Think you’re fast? You couldn’t begin to keep up with the basilisk lizard, a creature so fleet it can run on water. Think you’re smart? Try to figure out the dance of the honeybee, which tells other hive members where to find food. Hungry? Don’t get into an eating contest with a Tasmanian Devil, which can swallow up to 40 percent of its weight in half an hour. These thirteen episodes of the popular Animal Planet series take a fascinating, up-close look at some of Mother Nature’s most formidably equipped and functionally enabled creatures. And even though you’ll never beat ‘em, you’ll certainly enjoy getting to know why they’re all at the top of their games.
—Neil Pond, American Profile

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In this award-winning, landmark ’60s crime drama, a black “Yankee” cop (Sidney Poitier) is wrongly accused of murder while visiting his mother in a small Mississippi town, where the bigoted police chief (Rod Steiger) eventually comes to see him as an ally and not a suspect. The racial tensions are as raw, close to the surface and tightly drawn as ever in this outstanding, newly enhanced commemorative DVD. Bonus features that include a closer look at “The Slap Heard Round the World,” the groundbreaking scene in which Poitier smashes Hollywood’s “color barrier” when his character smacks a snooty white aristocrat.
—Neil Pond, American Profile

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What you see on television at music’s biggest night (this year’s telecast is set for Feb. 10) can be riveting. But what you don’t see is even better. Author Ehrlich, the executive producer for each year’s Grammy Awards since 1980, unwraps a bonanza of behind-the-scene details and first-person stories about the groundbreaking performances (Melissa Etheridge bravely facing the spotlight after her cancer, her bald head shining), nerve-wracking backstage decisions (pull the plug on Frank Sinatra, or let him babble?) and high-powered star wrangling (why Garth Brooks only made one appearance on the show, and has stayed away since) that go into making the Grammys the most talked-about awards show on TV.
—Neil Pond, American Profile

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Even if you don’t think Led Zeppelin is the greatest head-banging band of all time, this newly re-mastered and expanded in-concert documentary—released theatrically in 1976—will remind you of how honest-to-gosh rock gods thundered in an era before MTV was a telescope peeping into every corner of the musical cosmos. And if your head isn’t at least bobbing after “Stairway to Heaven,” “Whole Lotta Love” and 13 other heavy-metal masterpieces, it’s official: You don’t have a rock & roll bone in your body.
—Neil Pond, American Profile

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The 50th-anniversary DVD re-release of this classic romance recounts the saga of a suave playboy (Cary Grant) and an elegant lounge singer (Deborah Kerr) who meet, fall in love despite the fact they’re both engaged to someone else, then agree to rendezvous six months later atop the Empire State Building (“the closest thing to heaven” in New York) to see if they’re truly meant for each other. Misunderstanding and heartbreak follow when he doesn’t show up, ultimately leading to one of the most heart-tugging reconciliations in Hollywood history. Extras include several featurettes, a half-hour AMC Backstory spotlight and commentary by professional soprano Marnie Nixon, the “Voice of Hollywood” who provided the vocals for all of Kerr’s songs.
—Neil Pond, American Profile

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Baseball fans waiting for the spring thaw will enjoy whiling away the chilly weeks with this unique compendium of 2,500 trivia questions about players, games, teams, statistics, records and rules—with a unique twist. A battery-operated mini-computer, embedded in the cover, generates question numbers at random, invites you to pick the correct multiple-choice answer, then tells you if you’re right or wrong. Step up to this plate, slugger, and you’ll find out pretty fast just how well you know America’s pastime.
—Neil Pond, American Proflle

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You’ll find it hard to believe your eyes as you browse through these full-color, large-format photos of unusual, eccentric and outright odd homes, churches, castles, museums, opera houses and other structures that defy the imagination. If you ever get bored of your ordinary-looking four walls, Bizarre Buildings brings dozens of the world’s most unique architectural offerings to your coffee table.
—Neil Pond, American Profile

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