Review: ‘Bones: The Complete Fifth Season’
There’s a certain grisly reality to CBS’ collection of [[[CSI]]] series that does the procedural part well, but depicts its characters as a particularly colorless bunch, overly serious and making the shows just a tad less engaging. Fox, wisely jumped on the police procedural bandwagon with something similar but certainly livelier.[[[Bones]]], based on Kathy Reichs novels, is a veritable rainbow of character types that has kept things captivating for six seasons now.
The fifth season, now out on DVD from 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment, takes a mature set of characters and stirs the pot a bit as the season progresses. The basic set-up has a team of forensic anthropologists working for the Jeffersonian, standing in for the Smithsonian, handling cases for the FBI, led by Special Agent Seely Booth. The title character is the nickname of Dr. Temperance Brennan and while she’s the focal point, the series has evolved into a wonderful ensemble. Over the previous four seasons, we’ve seen the cast grow as we’ve met friends and family of each of the core characters, most of whom serve to counterpoint the actual cases being investigated.
Since the third season, the series has also been having a rotation of interns working for Brennan, each with their own personality and quirks, so they also serve as a constant freshening of the characters and situations. Hart Hanson, who has adapted the novels for television, has done a strong job with keeping the series fresh and never less than entertaining. He also allows his characters strong points of view so Brennan, who is so literal minded she has trouble interacting with most people, is constantly trying to understand why people do what they do. Booth, on the other hand, is a practicing Catholic and dislikes having his faith challenged but also explains the world to Brennan in ways that make her reconsider the world.
Hanson did a great job casting David Boreanaz and Emily Deschanel as the leads since they not only play well off one another, but have grown as performers. The remainder of the cast has also been well populated with a strong group of characters. They spark off one another quite well.
[[[Dragon Puncher]]]
For those of you who haven’t read the three-issue comic book miniseries 
, by Warren Ellis and Cully Hamner, don’t worry. The movie version is to the comic book as [[[Blade Runner]]] was to Philip K. Dick’s novel [[[Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?]]] That is, Red takes the comic book’s basic concept—a retired CIA assassin, Frank Moses, finds himself under attack and comes out of retirement to deal with the problem—and then spins it off in a new direction. In this movie’s case, that direction is a fast, fun film with a fantastic cast, great action, great lines, and more than a little bit of humor.
There’s a lot of violence, of course. But no real gore. No nudity either, and not much profanity. Plus the light tone and the romantic element offsets all the talk about killing and killers. The film’s rated PG-13 and I think that’s fair.
This is a tough book to review given growing up reading the majority of titles covered here in addition to working on staff for twenty years plus continuing to contribute to the company today. It’s also a book I wish I had written. That said, this is a mighty undertaking that is strong and eminently readable. This is a worthwhile 75th anniversary collector’s item and a great way to encapsulate DC Comics’ rich history. By all means, this belongs on your bookshelf.
When Charles Schulz created [[[Peanuts]]] sixty years ago, he never imagined that Snoopy, Charlie Brown’s beagle, would steal the spotlight and overshadow the strip in future years. Much as Snoopy overran the comic strip and merchandising, so did he loom large in many of the animated specials which ran for decades on CBS. Warner Home Entertainment has collected two of those dog-centric specials in the just released[[[He’s Your Dog, Charlie Brown]]].
The climb back to not only respectability but creativity was a long painful one for Walt Disney Studios but you could see bits and pieces of improvement throughout the 1980s. [[[The Little Mermaid]]] in 1989 was the first serious indication that the animators found their mojo. As a result, audiences were primed and ready for 1991’s 
. What they didn’t anticipate was just how magical and wonderful the film would be.
While the various animated series featuring the DC Universe heroes have had a loose connectivity, the feature films from Warner Premiere have been fiercely independent with variations in look, vocal cast and attitude. That is, until now. In 
, out today from Warner Home Entertainment, we have the first animated feature to immediately pick up on the events of a previous offering, in this case Superman/Batman: Public Enemies. Of course, it makes sense since they both are drawn from the Superman/Batman ongoing series and comprise the title’s first two story arcs.
