On Demand Weekly

Demand Weekly provides new movie reviews of hot movies and shows on demand from the POV of watching from the comfort of your home. Today’s reviews: "Nurse Jackie" (SHO), starring Edie Falco.

NURSE JACKIE
Young Women on the Verge of Life

By Jean Tait

I have to admit, by the end of “Nurse Jackie-Season 3,” I was a little disappointed. Season 2 ended on such a brilliant note, with Jackie totally busted, but somehow, in Season 3, she wiled her way out of it, and continued on exactly the same as before, with no change or growth. And as much as I love watching this ensemble, the lack of new direction started to wear thin. So I had my trepidations about Season 4.

Happily, they were unfounded. Although I don’t believe she’s quite hit bottom, yet, nor has she accepted that her personal life is a complete failure, Season 4 starts off with Jackie finally admitting she needs help. She is also beginning to see how her behavior is affecting those she loves (and who love her).

Off to rehab, it is! The change of scenery opens the door to new characters, bringing in some more of my favorite under-utilized actors as fellow re-hab patients: Margaret Colin playing a southern grande dame, and Mary Louise Wilson as Doris, an outspoken, wacky paranoiac. Also in re-hab is newcomer Jake Cannavale, all green-haired, sullen teen who becomes an unlikely sort of sponsor for Jackie’s sobriety.

Anna Deveare Smith continues to shine as beleaguered hospital administrator Gloria Akalitus who gets demoted back to wearing scrubs on the floor, which actually brings her closer to her co-workers emotionally as well as in physical proximity. Merrit Wever’s Zoey continues to beguile as her character grows up, but retains all her child-like charm. I’d like to see Peter Facinelli’s Dr Cooper grow up now a little, too.
 

Media savant T Tara Turk goes deep inside cable TV to reveal Video On Demand's Hidden Gems so even the busiest of our readers can get the most out of On Demand TV. Tell Tara what VOD shows you think deserves her attention.

NatGeo Channel (VOD Hidden Gem)

By T. Tara Turk

My very first memory of watching television aside from Looney Toons and Mighty Mouse goes straight to my addiction for the Leonard Nimoy hosted “In Search Of...” If you weren’t born yet or your parents had you outside, you know, playing, “In Search Of...” was a great show about the mysteries of, well, everything. That was the beauty of it.

A few episodes still stick with me and one of them was the story of cult leader Jim Jones who famously took a bunch of his church followers to Guyana to leave “in peace” if living in peace means stealing life savings, sexually assaulting female churchgoers, mind control and, finally, drinking poison punch. My mother couldn’t get me to drink Kool-Aid ever again after that.

Though “In Search Of...” is gone, it seems like NatGeo is taking over its quest “to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before” (I couldn’t resist the Star Trek bit...sorry). While major US problems like the economy, racism, health care and the like make headlines, certain aspects of the changing American culture seem to be often ignored. I’m talking cults, changing religious views and how we as Americans are growing up with a more global impact daily.

With that “I Escaped A Cult” on NatGeo has picked up right where my Kool-Aid fear has left off. The show is much like it’s “I Shouldn’t Be Alive” series but this time it explores people who have managed to escaped cults. You’re probably wondering, like me, if these things still exist but they indeed are still around and doing just as much damage.

HOUSE HUNTING: Two families attend an open house in the hopes of finding their dream home. Upon entering, their dream quickly becomes a hellish nightmare when they realize that every attempt to leave takes them right back to the front door. Stuck in this purgatory, the two families are haunted by the deserted home’s former owner with the declaration that only one of the two families will be able to call this house their home.

Here are ODW's 5 Things You Should Know About HOUSE HUNTING

1. This horror thriller was shot in the filmmakers’ childhood home in Charlottesville, Virginia, U.S.A.

2. HOUSE HUNTING is Marc Singers’ come back into mainstream media since starring in THE BEASTMASTER in 1983.

3. Features Paul McGill, whose Broadway stardom has landed him roles in feature films such as ‘Fame’.

4. Up and coming actress Emma Rayne Lyle stars in the film I DON’T KNOW HOW SHE DOES IT alongside Sarah Jessica Parker.

5. Neighbouring the farm where this film was shot is a famous house in Charlottesville, Virginia that is suspected to be haunted.


You May Also Like...

Get the latest information about Movies On Demand from On Demand Weekly. Every week we provide the Week’s Top 10 Movies On Demand (MOD).

On Demand Weekly provides new movie reviews of hot movies on demand from the POV of watching from the comfort of your home. Today’s review: MARLEY (Magnolia).

Enter The MARLEY Sweepstakes Here

MARLEY
Bob Marley, The Third World’s Reggae Superstar…..
By Cynthia Kane

Why has it taken so long to bring a documentary on Bob Marley to the world?!

In 2008, Martin Scorsese was pegged for this project to be released for the anniversary of what would have been Marley’s 65th birthday, and it just didn’t happen. The project then went to Jonathan Demme, who in the end dropped out due to creative difference. Premiering at this year’s Berlin Film Festival, it may have taken a long time and we may have missed that 2010 anniversary year, but Oscar winning director Kevin MacDonald’s bio-doc, MARLEY is worth the wait, particularly for younger generations who only know the iconic spirit, smile and dreadlocks.

Yet even for the rest of us,

die-hard and not so die-hard fans,

MARLEY is a must.

A bio-pic in pure form – taking us from birth to untimely death – but perhaps to be more precise, this film feels like a kind of love song to Marley, yet keeps him human. A mix of talking heads, archival footage intermixed with audio voiceover and musical performance, Kevin Macdonald doesn't experiment with the genre so much as he gives us a straightforward, no nonsense version of Marley’s life, and he does it extremely well. Thus it is as accessible as it is entertaining.

Here we have the story of a man, a musician, who no matter that he was enormously talented became world-famous despite incredible odds. Part of the winning-ness of this story is that Marley was just so appealing.

Why do we like Marley so much?

From his impoverished youth as an ostracized mixed-race child (he referred to himself as half-caste) born in Nine Mile in Saint Ann Parish, Jamaica, to his status as a leading figure of popular Jamaican music, Bob Marley is seen as a shy yet complicated man with an innate lust for life as well as music. He loved women incessantly as well, and one thing this documentary does not do is pretend he was progressive or pro-feminist. Yet… we like him all the same.