Author: Robert Greenberger

Known to adults as Bender in Futurama and tweens as Dr. Drakken in Kim Possible, John DiMaggio takes an iconic step forward as the voice of The Joker, the pivotal villain in Batman: Under the Red Hood.

In the animated film, Batman faces his ultimate challenge as the mysterious Red Hood takes Gotham City by firestorm. One part vigilante, one part criminal kingpin, Red Hood begins cleaning up Gotham with the efficiency of Batman, but without following the same ethical code. And when The Joker falls in the balance between the two forces of justice, hard truths are revealed and old wounds are reopened.

DiMaggio gets free reign to play the iconic villain amidst a stellar voice cast that includes Bruce Greenwood (Star Trek) as the Caped Crusader, Supernatural star Jensen Ackles as Red Hood, and Neil Patrick Harris (How I Met Your Mother) as Nightwing.

Best known for his near-100 episodes as Bender, DiMaggio has parlayed his deep, gravelly tones and versatile acting style into a major force on the voiceover scene for the past decade. DiMaggio’s credits include roles in Kim Possible, Samurai Jack, Teen Titans, Batman: The Brave and the Bold, The Spectacular Spider-Man, Duck Dodgers, Jackie Chan Adventures, The Penguins of Madagascar and Chowder.

Voiceover has so dominated his time that DiMaggio has virtually abandoned his on-camera career – despite past work as a regular cast member on Chicago Hope and a number of guest roles in TV series such as Becker, N.Y.P.D. Blue, Felicity, Bones, Without a Trace and My Name is Earl.

Batman: Under the Red Hood is due out from Warner Home Video on July 27, 2010.

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Cable dramatic series take chances on shoestring budgets, casting a few familiar names and plenty of unknowns, shooting in unfamiliar locales and yet, have continually been delivering the goods, making the quality of television overall much better than it has been in a long time.

Among the more inventive, engaging and entertaining of these shows is TNT’s Leverage
, which returns for a third season with a two-episode debut on June 20. This week, Paramount Home Video releases the complete second season
in a four-disc DVD set. By now, most might be familiar with the high concept: a band of thieves teams with an emotionally damaged insurance adjuster to apply the right amount of “[[[leverage]]]” to do good.

The show has evolved into more than just the caper of the week as this band of dysfunctional people grows as individuals and as an odd family. In the center is Nate Ford (Timothy Hutton), who lost his son because his own insurance company declined to cover a potentially life-saving treatment. This has cost him his job and his wife, sending him into an alcoholic binge. For the first 27 episodes, Ford continues to insist that bending and breaking the law to accomplish justice makes him a good guy, not a thief. That all changes as his character arc reaches a crisis point in the 28th show.

His emotional damage is such that he has not been able to maintain real relationships with people including Sophie Devereaux (Gina Bellman), the grifter he’s harbored feelings for over the years. Season two was broken into halves and by the end of the summer 2009 half, she left the team to find herself (a clever way of writing her out to cover Bellman’s pregnancy). To protect the team, she has asked her friend Tara Cole (Jeri Ryan) to take her place so injecting her into the family brings up trust issues. Throughout the winter 2010 half season, members of the team are seen seeking advice from Sophie as she globetrots and is seen on viewscreens only.

The entire second season builds up to breaking Ford down, as he falls off the wagon in Sophie’s absence and is gradually distancing himself from the team. The fifteen episodes comprising the complete second season have somewhat slight cons while carrying forward many of the character arcs, enriching the overall series.

Several figures from season one return, among them James Sterling (Mark A. Sheppard), Nate’s former rival and now opponent. The Sterling-Ford confrontations are well played by two gifted actors and keeps reminding us of Ford’s tortured past. The return of his ex-wife Maggie Collins (Kari Matchett) also complicates matters as does Nate’s decision to relocate to Boston and live above the Pub where his father used to do business and drink heavily.

The show is uneven to be sure, as the supporting cast is nowhere near as well-developed as they should be. Parker (Beth Riesgraf)’s background is the most intriguing but little is done to show us more and the potential romance with her and Alec Hardison (Aldis Hodge) has gone nowhere. Eliot Spencer (Christian Kane), the deadliest muscle on Earth, has been given too few opportunities to show he’s anything more. Ryan’s character mixed in well and was intriguing but no effort was made to explore how she became a grifter.

The final two-part episode nicely brings things to a climax, resolving some things, and leaving you wondering what will happen next.

The discs contain some nice extras including production crew commentaries on all fifteen episodes, which provide tremendous insight into how much thought goes into setting up arcs and motifs. There’s a Creators of Leverage Q&A from a public appearance, John Rogers Set Tour, a featurette on the special effects, an unevenly funny “The Hand Job” spoof video, a short piece on Any Lange’s music seen in one episode; and finally, the Season 2 Wrap Party Gag Reel.

A nice package and great way to catch up before the ten new episodes arrive to brighten the summer.

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Gene Roddenberry spent the 1970s attempting to create new series and while many got as far the pilot film, none ever went to series. By the end of the decade he was frustrated and gave up, tying himself to [[[Star Trek]]], riding that cash cow to the end of his life.

His first attempt was 1973’s [[[Genesis II]]], a take on post-apocalyptic life on Earth, starring Alex Cord as Dylan Hunt (a name that got recycled). The CBS movie of the week looked good and almost made the schedule when the network opted instead for [[[Planet of the Apes]]]. Roddenberry continued to rework the notion, revising it into[[[Planet Earth]]], and switching from CBS and Cord to ABC and then rising action star John Saxon.  After that aired and failed, Roddenberry wisely walked away from the idea in favor of [[[Questor]]] and [[[Spectre]]].

Others, though, didn’t give up and tried with Saxon one final time in [[[Strange New World]]]. While the earlier attempts were released as a part of the Warner Brothers Archive program in October, only this week did this final act become available.

The common denominators are that the PAX organization sent astronauts into space in a state of suspended animation. Meantime, Earth was devastated and when the explorers awoke, they had to survive in a world they no longer recognized.

Airing March 23, 1975, we get an info dump narration to open the story of Strange New World, clearly lifted from the opening lines of Star Trek. Similarly, the [[[Enterprise]]] Bridge sound effects that open the telefilm make you think there’s still a Roddenberry connection which there most certainly is not.

Say what you will about him, but when he envisioned the future, he did his homework and researched where we were and where the experts thought we were headed. You see a lot of that especially in Genesis II. Writers Ranald Graham, Walon Green, and Al Ramrus did none of that and as a result the state of the Earth makes little sense after a series of meteors destroyed civilization as the astronauts knew it 180 years earlier.

Saxon, this time, is called Captain Anthony Vico and is accompanied by Dr. Allison Crowley (Kathleen Miller) and Dr. William Scott (Keene Curtis). The movie is actually two stories, neither of which is very good. In the first half, they encounter a utopia only to discover that there comes a price – with the ability to reproduce eradicated, the eternally youthful-looking people have resorted to cloning themselves for an endless supply of body parts. Of course, for some bizarre reason, each swab for more genetic material weakens the donor and eventually, the problems of aging become apparent. The hope is to refresh the supply by capturing our intrepid heroes.

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As a storyteller, Garry Marshall’s credentials include some of the finest character-driver television of the 1960s. This success with [[[The Dick Van Dyke Show]]] and [[[I Spy]]], among others, led to his chance to produce and direct sitcoms and then feature films. Along the way, he built a reputation as a great person to work for, earning him endless loyalty. His films grew in sophistication without losing the heart and soul, as seen when he turned $3000 into [[[Pretty Woman]]].

With the passage of time, though, it has become clear that while a beloved figure, he has lost sight of the strong and individualistic characters he used to surround himself with. As a result, his more recent offerings have been softer, less interesting, and far less commercially relevant.

When viewers saw the marquee ensemble he assembled for [[[Valentine’s Day]]], it was a guarantee that people would come and see their favorites. There were big names for every demographic from Emma Roberts and Taylor Launter for the tween set to Shirley MacLaine for the seniors. Unfortunately, when we bought our tickets and popcorn and sat down, we were treated to a watered down, predicable story.

The film’s biggest problem is that it poorly compares with 2003’s [[[Love Actually]]], which has become a cable, DVD and sleepover staple. That film focused on a far small cast with much stronger storylines for everyone.

Watching Valentine’s Day on DVD, out tomorrow from Warner Home Video, you are just a tad surprised by how some of the characters intersect but not by what they do. Every storyline is telegraphed and every character is a stock type, yanked from Central Casting.

Katherine Fugate’s story may feel sprawling and at the same time intimate, it also fails to surprise. More, it fails to show us anything but a narrow demographic which was upper middle class to the wealthy. George Lopez, playing the lowest paid character in the film also had the strongest romance and shortest amount of screen time to demonstrate it.

Her story also has logic-defying plot holes such as Jennifer Garner’s 5:30 flight from Los Angeles to San Francisco and yet was able to get humiliated, return to the airport and manage to crash the early dinner seating at a posh LA restaurant.

Several actors were criticized for walking through their parts but then again, when they were given nothing to work with, it’s clear they were there out of love for Marshall. Garner and Anne Hathaway give two of the most honest performances while Taylor Swift shows us what a good singer she is. Even Marshall’s go-to actor, the great Hector Elizondo, gives a fairly rote performance.

This disappointing film comes in the standard combo pack with Blu-ray, Standard DVD and digital copy in a nice package. The Blu-ray video and sound were top-notch, which let us enjoy the excellent sound track. Blu-ray extras include an extensive number of deleted scenes, none of which make the story any deeper or more satisfying, while The Garry Factor clearly demonstrates why people signed on to make this sad effort. The Blooper Reel, a Jewel music video, and The Stars Confess Their Valentine’s Day Stories round out the nice assortment of extras. 

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While we eagerly await next week’s upfront announcements to see which of our favorite genre shows survive or vanish, one series has figured out their next step. During production of Starz Network’s Spartacus: Blood and Sand, its title star Andy Whitfield was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma. As he undergoes treatment in New Zealand, there remained question as to how long it would be before the second season could begin production.

The producers came up with a clever filler by striking a deal to produce a six-part prequel that would require no more than a cameo from Whitfield. Instead, the focus will be on the randy pair played by Lucy Lawless and John Hannah as the story chronicles the rise of the House of Batiatus in the days before Spartacus arrived as a captured Thracian slave.

The producers, writers, and production crew will continue with their roles while a new actor will be added to play the pre-Crixus champion. Production will start this spring with Starz scheduled to air the series beginning in January 2011.

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