CIRCO is a documentary that follows the Ponce Family and their Gran Circo Mexico as they travel through the Mexican countryside. The circus is led by Tino Ponce (Ringmaster) and involves the participation of the entire family, including his children. There doesn’t seem to be any distinction between the circus and the family. They are one in the same. If you leave the circus, you leave the family. The story of the Ponce family and their traveling circus is very relatable. No, we don’t all come from a circus family, but there are certain family dynamics and characteristics that are universal.

Tino is determined to keep the family circus (its legacy) going despite financial difficulties and the disapproval of his wife. He doesn’t want to leave his parents and break up the family or the act. This is all he’s ever known. His wife wants to leave the circus, worried that her children are missing out on their childhood, spending their time training and performing. There is also the feud with Tino’s parents and his wife. Yes, no family drama would ever be complete without trouble with the in-laws. They don’t like Tino’s wife. She’s an outsider. They are surprised she has lasted this long with the circus. On the other hand, Tino’s wife feels like her in-laws are manipulating her husband, taking more of a cut of the profits, even thought Tino is doing all of the work. Poor Tino is caught between his wife, his parents, and the circus. What’s a guy to do?

With all the drama surrounding Tino, his wife, and his parents, I feel the heart of the story is the Ponce children. The children are trained to carry on the legacy and tradition of Gran Circo Mexico. The future of the family, therefore the circus, rests on their young shoulders. That’s a lot of pressure for young children. Instead of playing with friends or going to school, they work on their acrobatic and other performance skills. They barely know how to read or write. I think that’s the saddest part of the story. That alone limits their choices for the future, but then again, their future is already laid out for them. The most heartbreaking scene was watching Tino’s young niece, about five years old, being forced to practice her acrobatics. She cries as they force her to stretch and contort her body. My heart ached for her.

We do get other glimpses of the circus life perspective from Tino’s brother and sister. His brother leaves the circus to marry a woman he met in town only to return. The transition was too much for him to take. The circus is all he knows. He couldn’t get used to life on the outside or staying in one place. Tino’s sister marries a man from town, and returns to the circus occasionally to perform. She gets the best of both worlds. However, this isn’t what Tino’s parents wanted for their children. Once their children left the circus, they left the family, and were practically disowned. It wasn’t until their return that their parents seemed to make some kind of peace with their choices.

It took me a couple of viewings to get through CIRCO. I found the story to be interesting, but the subtitles were not a thick enough font to read, and they seemed were put against images that were light in color. I found myself squinting to read the subtitles and questioning my eyesight. After moving closer and closer to the television, I realized it wasn’t my eyesight. This made me lose interest in the film. It became too much work and I found myself not caring whether Tino chose his wife and kids over the circus or if his wife chose to leave.

I also found myself not caring about the special features on DVD, which includes a follow up on the Ponce Family, director commentary, and the Making of The Circo Score. The follow up on the Ponce family was slightly interesting. We learn what happened in the marriage of Tino and his wife and what happened to Gran Circo Mexico after the filming of the documentary. Without giving away the ending of CIRCO, if you loved the film, you will definitely want to watch the follow up feature. It will answer questions about the future of the Ponce Family and Gran Circo Mexico that the end of the film leaves open-ended.

I’ve been a fan of Sesame Street and The Muppets since I was a small child. As much as I loved it as a child, I enjoy it on a much higher level as an adult. I firmly believe that although it is geared towards children, there is a little something in there for adults. BEST OF SESAME STREETS SPOOFS VOLUME 1&2 proves my point all too well. I watched it with my three-year-old cousin and I laughed hysterically throughout while she wandered in an out of the room during different spoofs. The mere fact that SESAME STREET even spoofs pop culture goes to show you that it’s for the adults who have to sit and watch with their preschoolers.

BEST OF SESAME STREET SPOOFS VOLUME 1 moved a little slow. There were some spoofs I couldn’t appreciate because I wasn’t familiar with what they were making fun of. However, those that I recognized were highly entertaining. MONSTERPIECE THEATER of GONE WITH THE WIND AND THE KING AND I, hosted by Alistair Cookie (Cookie Monster) were hilarious. I especially liked THE KING AND I. Lovable Grover played the king and guess who he danced with in the spoof? You guessed it. The letter “I”! Knowing that this was SESAME STREET and it is filled with lessons on numbers and letters, this still surprised me for some reason, making the reveal all the more entertaining. I couldn’t get enough of it. Another one of my favorite spoofs was a music video called CEREAL GIRL, spoofing Madonna’s hit “Material Girl”. Hilarious. A puppet singing about how much they love cereal? Genius.

BEST OF SESAME STREET SPOOFS VOLUME 2 is where the spoofs get out of control and I mean that in a good way. It spoofs current shows such as LAW AND ORDER SVU, MAD MEN, DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES, 30 ROCK, TRUE BLOOD and more. The two that stand out amongst the pack is LAW AND ORDER SPECIAL LETTERS UNIT and TRUE MUD. SESAME STREET has taken the spoof to a level that the puppets look like the characters from the actual show and they’ve taken on the task of redoing the credits to fit the sketch. TRUE MUD is even introduced on the GBO (Grouch Network)! If you think it can’t get any better or funnier than that, guess again. Check out the opening credits of 30 ROCKS where Liz Lemon is played by…a lemon.

Some of these spoofs are more entertaining than their real counterparts. I’ve watched GREYS ANATOMY since the first season and often as the show has progressed I’ve asked myself why I continue to watch. Why? I’m hoping something will happen and don’t want to miss it when it does. Well, a lot more happened in the spoof A’S ANATOMY as Dr. Grover did surgery on the letter “A” than has happened in the last two seasons of GREYS ANATOMY. I rest my case.

The bonus spoof of JON AND KATE PLUS 8 from the LIVE AND LEARN CHANNEL was fun, but I really enjoyed the spoof of the OLD SPICE commercials. Grover takes on the role of the OLD SPICE guy and tells us how to smell like a monster. Classic.

BEST OF SESAME STREET SPOOFS VOLUME 1&2 is worth owning and watching with your children. The kids will learn their numbers and letters and you can laugh at all of the pop culture references. It doesn’t get any better than this.

BLUE VALENTINE is a sad film. Half way through, I asked myself why I had thought it was a good idea to watch a film about the demise of a relationship? The jury is still out on that one.

Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams star as Dean and Cindy, a young married couple whose relationship is imploding. It is clear from the first few moments of the film that Cindy is not happy and is just going through the motions. It doesn’t even seem as though she likes Dean, let alone loves him. What makes this extremely heartbreaking is that not only is it clear that Dean loves Cindy, but he knows that she has slipped away from him and he’s not ready to let her or their family go. Yes that’s right. If you thought the story couldn’t get any sadder, they have a young precocious and adorable daughter Frankie played by Faith Wladyka. Frankie is a daddy’s girl and Dean worships the ground she walks on. He wants to save his marriage for his daughter and for himself. To try to salvage their relationship, Dean takes Cindy to a hotel for the night to rekindle the passion they once had for each other. How easy is that to do in a tacky, futuristic-themed hotel room? Not very. Cindy is over Dean and recoils at his very touch.

Director and Screenwriter Derek Cianfrance tells this love story in an interesting and innovative way. As we are shown the end of the relationship in present time, we are also shown flashbacks of the two coming together and falling in love. The past and present happen simultaneously. Each romantic memory of the past is partnered with the awful truth of the present. There is no point in routing for Cindy and Dean to make it work and find happiness again. Cindy’s unhappiness in the present totally outweighs any romantic memory of the past.

Is BLUE VALENTINE an accurate depiction of a love gone south? Some say yes. Cindy and Dean meet when they are really young; they have a brief courtship, fall in love, get pregnant, and marry. He’s uneducated; he didn’t even graduate high school, and she finds it adorable because he has so many other hidden talents. Dean thinks she’s beautiful and smart. It’s love at first sight for him. He never wanted to marry and have children, but once Cindy finds she’s pregnant from a previous relationship, he steps up. Why? He loves her that much.

There is a particular scene in which Cindy decides to keep the baby and she gives Dean an out. He doesn’t take it. Most guys watching the scene were probably screaming at him to take the out. When I watched the scene, I was screaming for Cindy to create an out for herself.

Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams were phenomenal in the film, but I didn’t quite understand what brought these two people together. Yes Dean was attractive, but it was abundantly clear that nothing was going on upstairs. He had no ambition or drive. Cindy was sweet and attractive, but how many guys would raise another man’s baby with a woman they practically just met? Is love that blind? It must be. I guess sometimes it takes time to see the things you chose to look away from.

In the end I felt more empathetic towards Dean. He tried his hardest to keep Cindy, even though in some instances she was emotionally cruel to him. I truly felt he loved her. Dean never pretended to be anybody other than who he was. It was just sad that Cindy no longer found that person desirable.

The special features on this disc includes: The Making of BLUE VALENTINE featurette, director commentary, deleted scenes, and a little home movie entitled FRANKIE AND THE UNICORN. The Making of BLUE VALENTINE is worth taking a look, though my personal favorite is FRANKIE AND THE UNICORN. Frankie stars as herself, Cindy as the unicorn, and Dean as it’s doctor. It’s a wonderfully funny and charming family interaction that first started out as an exercise for the actors to get to know one another and become a family. Well, kudos to the actors because it was a job well done. That’s why it was so heartbreaking to see it all end.

I love mafia movies. CASINO, GOODFELLAS, THE GODFATHER, and DONNIE BRASCO are all great mob movies with smart dialogue, an inner look into the world of the mafia, and suave powerful men with really snazzy suits. How can there be a mob film without Pacino, DeNiro, Pesci, Scorsese and Stevenson? Stevenson? Who’s that guy?

Exactly.

Ray Stevenson stars as Irish mobster Danny Greene in the film KILL THE IRISHMAN directed by Jonathan Hensleigh and based on the book “To Kill the Irishman” by Rick Porrello. The film follows the true story of the rise of Danny Greene from longshoreman to union president, and FBI informant to a major player in the inner workings of the Cleveland crime syndicate.

Danny has a copacetic relationship with the mob until a deal goes sour with loan shark Shondor Birns played brilliantly by Christopher Walken. Danny asked Birns for a loan to open up a restaurant. Birns sends his own courier to New York to get the money from the Gambino crime family. There is only one hitch. The courier uses the money to buy cocaine and ends up getting busted by the police. Birns wants Danny to pay off the loan with interest and Danny refuses to pay back money he never received. The end result? Birns puts out a contract on Danny. A bomb is put into his car and guess what? This guy actually survives! Retaliation ensues and as Danny Greene and partner John Nardi (Vincent D’Onfirio) take on the Cleveland mob, a war escalates for power. Danny becomes a legend and local hero in his neighborhood. He survives countless bombing and shootings and is known as a “Celtic Warrior” and “The Robin Hood of Collinwood”. This guy has nine lives. The mob can’t seem to kill him, or can they?

As in every mob film there is a lot of violence and this film doesn’t disappoint. There are car bombings, shootouts, and guys getting the life beat out of them. All this is juxtaposed with scenes of loyalty, friendship, and love. Danny protects and provides for his wife (Linda Cardellini) and later his young girlfriend. In the beginning of the film he settles a gambling debt with the mob for his friend and later has to decide whether to kill him or not. What a guy.

There are also a slew of mob characters, some of which are played by notable actors from other mob films. There is even the hardworking detective character played by Val Kilmer, who unnecessarily narrates the film.

KILL THE IRISHMAN is no GOLDFELLAS or CASINO. There are no suave guys with snazzy suits. But the rest of it is there. It may take a couple of viewings to like this film. It certainly did with me. This isn’t your cool mafia film. It’s not Hollywood. It’s a bit more gritty and real. The special feature on the disc is the documentary, “Danny Greene: The Rise and Fall of the Irishman”. This short is worth taking a look at, as it describes in further detail, with photos and original news reports, Danny Greene and the Cleveland mob scene. You won’t be disappointed.

Gleek(s). Definition: A person or a group of people that love all things GLEE. This new term has made its way into our vernacular and has cemented its place in pop culture. I have to say that after viewing the entire first season of this breakout hit show, I am a self-proclaimed “gleek”.

GLEE is a musical dramedy that follows Spanish teacher Will (Matthew Morrison) Schuester’s journey to reinvigorate and bring McKinley High School’s glee club back to its former glory. In order to receive funding from the school board, the glee club must win at the Sectionals competition and place at Regionals. This is no easy task as the glee club is full of the school’s most unpopular (though seemingly most talented) students. They are the underdogs of the school and nobody, not even the principal, believes that they have what it takes to make it to Regionals. Just as Will seems to lead his glee club in the right direction Sue Sylvester (Jane Lynch), the cheerleading coach, derails his plans and his students. She doesn’t want glee club taking away money or glory from her precious “Cheerios”(the cheerleading squad). Sue despises Will, his hair, and all things glee. She manipulates the students and the school system in order to sabotage the glee club.

Of course all of the lies, manipulations, and the struggle to make it to Regionals is done with humor and yes…lots of songs and musical numbers complete with over the top costumes and choreography. My high school glee club sure never looked or sounded like the students at McKinley High. These kids make glee club cool, mixing their repertoire of classic musical theater pieces to singing the latest songs by some of today’s hottest music artists including, Rihanna, Lady Gaga, and Beyonce. They even dabble in the oldies-but-goodies including, Lionel Ritchie, Diana Ross, and Aretha Franklin. No song is off limits and each seems to fit the theme of the episode.

Right from the very first episode, we are pulled back into the social politics of high school. Who’s cool? The jocks and the cheerleaders. Who’s not? Anyone who does not fit into that role. What’s great about GLEE is that it brings the popular kids and the nerds together through music, through glee club. The only thing that matters is the music, placing at Regionals, and staying one step ahead of Sue Sylvester.

A series about high school students also must deal with issues of being a teen. GLEE doesn’t disappoint. It deals with sexuality, drugs, homosexuality, pregnancy, self-image, and relationships, all with humor, heart and a musical number.

GLEE, The Complete First Season is well worth taking a look at. Guest stars include Broadway alums Neil Patrick Harris, Kristin Chenoweth, and Idina Menzel. Other guest stars include Olivia Newton-John, Josh Groban, and Eve. There is even an entire episode dedicated to Madonna songs in which Jane Lynch performs a hilarious rendition of “Vogue”. It’s a must see. The special features on the discs are worth taking a look at as well. There are music videos of cast performances, cast video diaries, a dance boot camp, and much more.

Get with it and get with GLEE. Find your inner gleek. You won’t regret it.