EW review: Life imitates 'Ring's' art
By Brian M. Raftery
Entertainment Weekly
(Entertainment Weekly) -- Few supernatural films have proven to be as unwittingly grounded in reality as "The Ring. "
Released back when SARS was a particularly crappy Scrabble attempt and ''bird flu'' something that Heckle gave to Jeckle, "The Ring" has aged into a rare kind of thriller, one with frights that not only hold up three years later, but also are heightened, thanks to subsequent real-life events.
With its virus-like villain (a mysterious tape that's passed from one victim to the next) and the slow-build physical deterioration it causes (nosebleeds, hallucinations), Gore Verbinski's box office hit now seems culturally clairvoyant in our disease-distressed times.
Alas, for a movie that made the best use of cathode-ray chaos since "Poltergeist," the first digital edition of "The Ring" was bare-bones dull, with a half-hearted collection of bonus features that barely filled out 15 minutes, let alone seven days. While this reissue's extras are mostly typical filler material, they do include the shockingly good stopgap short film "Rings."
Co-written by Ehren Kruger (scribe of "The Ring" and this month's "Ring Two") and directed by "Darkness Falls'" Jonathan Liebesman, "Rings" is one of the first DVD-era marketing gimmicks to succeed as a work of art, bridging the two films nicely without interfering.
Under 20 minutes long, it sets the "Ring" tape loose in a clique-y high school, one of the few environments where peer pressure can believably function as a murder motive. As scares go, it's not as gasp-worthy as its feature-length forebear, but it does a better job of explaining how something so dreadful -- a quick, known death -- could become so desirable.
EW Grade: B
'Felicity: Senior Year'
Reviewed by Leah Reisman-Senes
Other than a few ''omigod'' moments (Felicity gets horizontal with Noel!) and funny bits (Sean and Meghan form Shmeghan Shirts!), "Felicity" was losing momentum in its final season.
The cast remained stellar -- Ian Gomez as flamboyant Javier, Greg Grunberg as incurable inventor Sean -- but soapier elements overwhelmed the show's deft balance of comedy and drama. That is, until The WB reversed "Felicity's" early cancellation, provoking an intriguing premise for more episodes: Felicity travels back in time to find out what would've happened if she'd chosen Noel.
The radiant Keri Russell displays great comic chops, and it's a treat to see the Goody Two-shoes blowing off classes, because in the future she's already graduated. The alternate reality also provides rewarding closure to the series-long debate over Felicity's rightful soul mate.
Extras: Savor Gomez and Grunberg's hilarious commentary; skip the others. Also includes a Museum of Television & Radio panel with the show's creators, Russell and former guest star (and Foley's ex-wife) Jennifer Garner.
'Popular: The Complete Second Season'
Reviewed by Timothy Gunatilaka
The teen cult fave co-created by "Nip/Tuck's" Ryan Murphy was an ecstatic mix of outrageous farce and poignant insight that marked another example of puberty programs prematurely dumped by the networks (see: "Freaks and Geeks," "My So-Called Life").
While the first season of this show -- following the inevitable clash of high school castes when the single parents of a misfit alterna-teen (Carly Pope) and a cheerleader goddess (Leslie Bibb) hook up -- sustains a steady level of awesomeness, the second (and final) year doesn't age as well.
In the soph season, the snarky banter and burlesque asides (Gucci demon exorcisms, gay monkey kidnappings) that make "Popular" so distinct sometimes give way to frustrating mawkishness (cancer subplot, substance-abuse issues).
Extras: But as cast commentary reveals, the network mandated a return to reality before abruptly canceling the show. Damn The WB for denying a resolution to the series' cliff-hanger ending! And for trying to turn this "Mean Girls" forerunner into "My So-Called Melodrama."
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