“Boss: Season One”
After years of showing great comic skills with “Cheers” and “Frasier,” Kelsey Grammer gets the opportunity to show his dramatic skills with this dark cable series.
Grammer plays Tom Kane, ruthless mayor of Chicago. He’s a man who has risen to power on the backs of others and has no problem stepping on a few more people to hang on to his control despite being hampered by health problems.
Political stories are only as good as the central players and Grammer shows the proper way such a role should be played. He can go from being a ruthless leader to confused health patient with ease.
The first season will help you get up to speed before the second season starts on Starz on Aug. 17.
Grade: B+
“Treasure Island”
The classic 1883 pirate novel by Robert Louis Stevenson has been made into 30 different movies. You can make that 31 films with the Syfy Channel adaptation starring Eddie Izzard, Elijah Wood and Donald Sutherland. The latest version works because of Izzard. He turned to a larger-than-life historical figure, Winston Churchill, for the inspiration he needed to make his John Silver different than all the rest.
Grade: B
Also out
“Silent House”: A woman is terrorized inside her family’s lakeside home. Elizabeth Olsen stars.
“The Deep Blue Sea”: Judge’s wife is caught in a love affair with a pilot.
“The Untouchables: The Complete Series”: Eliot Ness (Robert Stack) and his team fight crime in 1920s Chicago.
“Michael Wood’s Story of England”: The story of the village of Kibworth, Leicestershire, is told throughout the whole English history.
“Star Trek: The Next Generation — The First Season”: The sci-fi series makes its Blu-ray debut.
Rick Bentley, The Fresno Bee (Fresno, Calif.)
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