Girls

Girls (2012) starring Lena Dunham. Five episodes of the HBO series are presented on this disc. It's a tour-de-force for Dunham, who writes, directs, produces and acts in most of the episodes. Segments range from Hannah (Dunham) and her girlfriends going to a party, to Hannah taking a shower and getting peed on by her boyfriend, to Hannah and her roommate having a fight and deciding not to live together anymore. The series is both funny and sad, ending on a down note with Hannah sitting on the beach eating wedding cake. Dunham says on the Extras that she wanted the show to be about the way twenty-somethings really act, as opposed to the way they have been portrayed in sitcoms, and I think she has succeeded. Dunham herself belies the stereotypes by the way she looks; by TV standards she is not an attractive woman. But her show ultimately succeeds, perhaps because she is a smart and funny woman. (Subtitles in English are available, as well as closed captions.) Grade: A-    

Boardwalk Empire

Boardwalk Empire (2010) starring Steve Buscemi. Set in 1920, the first couple of episodes of this HBO series establish the character of Nucky Thompson (Buscemi), an Atlantic City gangster who aspires to be a booze baron now that Prohibition has come in. If you've seen The Godfather or The Sopranos, you have a pretty good idea of how this is going to unfold. I watched the first two episodes, and other than the '20s ambience, I couldn't see that this series has anything special to offer. The disc does have subtitles, as well as closed captions. Grade: B-

The Wire (DVD)

The Wire (2002) starring Dominic West. This HBO series has been praised to the skies by other critics, so I finally decided to take a chance on renting it. It's really not possible to judge an entire series by the first three episodes (contained on this disc), but so far so good. The show is a gritty dramatization of the illegal drug scene in Baltimore, seen alternately from the point of view of the cops and the perpetrators. The acting is good and the writing is very good. There are subtitles included on the disc, or if you prefer you can use the closed captions provided by your TV. I will definitely be renting more discs in this series. Grade so far: A

True Blood (DVD)

True Blood, Season 1, Disc 2 (2008) starring Anna Paquin, Stephen Moyer. This disc contains Episodes 3 and 4 of the HBO series about telepathic Louisiana waitress Sookie (Paquin), who falls for vampire Bill Compton (Moyer). In Episode 3, Sookie meets some of Bill's evil vampire friends. Unlike Bill, they enthusiastically feed on the blood of humans. But they stay away from Sookie when Bill tells them that she is his. In Episode 4, Sookie's brother Jason gets in trouble when another woman he slept with is found murdered. Sookie, hoping to clear her brother's name, asks Bill to take her to a vampire bar called Fangtasia. When they are stopped by a patrol cop on their way back from the bar, Bill demonstrates his considerable powers of "persuasion." Overall, I found this disc less interesting than the first disc of the season. It seems less mysterious and more cliched. Grade: B-

True Blood (DVD)

True Blood, Season 1, Disc 1 (2008) starring Anna Paquin, Stephen Moyer. Since I don't subscribe to HBO, I've never seen this show before. In general, I'm not enthusiastic about vampire stories, but this one has good buzz, so I thought I'd give it a try. In this first installment, Sookie, a mind-reading waitress (Paquin), meets Bill, a vampire (Moyer). She saves him from some low-life humans who are trying to steal his blood; later, he returns the favor and saves her from a vicious attack. Meanwhile, a woman in the town is murdered by a person or persons unknown. And the people who attacked Sookie turn up dead. Altogether, I was pleasantly surprised and entertained. I'll be renting more discs in the "True Blood" series. Grade: B+