Blogcritics Author: Brandy

TV Review: Project Runway - Season Five, Episode Two

Brandy — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 20:04:10 EDT

This week has our designers at the mercy of models distracted by pretty, shiny things.
The sun rises over the Atlas luxury apartments in New York City, which houses Project Runway’s hopefuls. And first thing, we’re treated to a Suede blog. Even at this hour he’s blogging in the third person. Something about “this is a competition.” See how sharp he is, even at the crack of dawn? Meanwhile, in 17J,...

TV Review: Project Runway - Season Five, Episode One

Brandy — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 18:17:28 EDT

Season Five of Bravo's hit show Project Runway begins with one not-so-delicious challenge.
This series will look at the fifth season of Project Runway. As such it will contain spoilers from each episode. You’ve been warned. A promise though: I will never use the word "Aufed."A yellow NYC taxi pulls up in front of the Atlas, a grey luxury apartment building. A man with a shirt open to his navel is pulling a suitcase down...

DVD Review: Rita Rudner - Live from Las Vegas

Brandy — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 07:17:16 EDT

Rita Rudner's sparkling humor provides an hour of perfectly light entertainment.
Soft-spoken Rita Rudner moved to New York City at age 15 to become a "gypsy", a Broadway dancer. At fifty-something she has kept her ballerina’s figure. Poised upon a Las Vegas stage, Ms. Rudner’s trademark breathy, halting delivery seems to delight the audience before her. Her material is mostly one-liners and setups in...

Movie Review: King of the Gypsies

Brandy — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 07:47:16 EDT

Will the Gypsies follow a new King, and modernise? Will Groffo usurp the throne, and the warring destroy them?
King of the Gypsies. Unfortunately, it’s everything young heir to the title Dave doesn’t wanna be. Dave wants to live among the Gadje (non Gypsy) people, to have a blond girlfriend, to educate himself, and work an honest job. Fate however, has a way of calling to us despite our urgent efforts. So fate keeps reaching out to Dave in...

Movie Review: Sex and the City

Brandy — Thu, 29 May 2008 10:28:25 EDT

Fashion, fun, friends, and yes, sex - what did you expect? Sex and the City. The new feature film.
Once upon a time, there were four women in the City. The women shopped, worked, went to lavish parties, and above all, they each searched for their Prince Charming and their happily ever after. They were powerful and fabulous -- smart, beautiful, loyal to each other. The only problem was, all their confidence and sense went out the window every...

DVD Review: Time For Murder

Brandy — Wed, 14 May 2008 20:36:34 EDT

Six hours of suspenseful, campy fun tick by in this double DVD boxed set from the 1985 ITV series, Time For Murder.
Ominous music fills the room. Blood seeps down a stopped clock. Got your attention? Good, because the DVD compilation of a deliciously warped British television series is just beginning. You're out of danger, in the comfort of your own home. So reach for the popcorn and enjoy.The first episode of six in Time For Murder, Acorn Media's...

DVD Review/Interview: Drew Hastings - Irked and Miffed

Brandy — Wed, 7 May 2008 09:39:24 EDT

Drew Hastings' standup act is a mishmash of predictable jokes and formulaic patter.
Drew Hastings strides onstage at the Valentine Theater in Toledo Ohio - all 6’ 6” of him. He’s dressed in black like Johnny Cash, but from the neck up resembles a goyische Woody Allen. He wears thick black glasses which remind most of Buddy Holly, but Hastings refers to them as “my Al Sharpton glasses - big, black, you can...

TV Review: Masterpiece Classics - Cranford

Brandy — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 09:54:24 EDT

Life, love, and loss are celebrated with equal respect among the ladies of a certain age in this glorious BBC TV film.
People who, like myself, had never heard of author Elizabeth Gaskell or Cranford have quite a treat waiting for them upon their first viewing of the new television mini-series based upon her work. People who were already fans of the Victorian-era writer will, I think, be immensely pleased at the cinematically “elegant economy” with...

TV Review: Masterpiece Classics - "My Boy Jack"

Brandy — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 14:08:47 EDT

Famed writer Rudyard Kipling's only son goes missing in action during WWI in "My Boy Jack".
The film begins with a tight close-up of a stopwatch. Time and the Empire wait for no one. But Rudyard Kipling feels in control of both. His pale yellow Rolls Royce races across the English countryside to its goal - and he wins. The broad grin on Kipling’s face tells us this is what he expected - no less. His friend - no less than His...

TV Review: Masterpiece Classics - "A Room With A View"

Brandy — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 12:52:19 EDT

Masterpiece Classics' "A Room with a View" unconscionably guts and renders the classic E. M. Forster novel.
A Room With A View. Expansiveness is suggested even in the title of late British novelist E.M. Forster’s work. The title brings imaginings of romance, of possibility, of new beginnings. In the original story, young Englishwoman Lucy Honeychurch travels abroad chaperoned by her dotty older cousin Charlotte. Lucy meets a collection of...