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To each generation a slayer his born, a chosen one who has both strength and courage to conquer all evil, forever having the fait of being alone and friendless, unless your Buffy. Season one is a T.V. series continuing from first time screenwriter’s, Joss Whedon, effort of a mainstream film, Buffy The Vampire Slayer. The series, only being 12 episodes long from a mid-season crunch for The WB, comes off a little unsure of its staying power, provides an all-inclusive season without a cliffhanger. Joss provides us with an inside look at the trials and tribulations of teenage life on the Hellmouth. Introducing the characters right out of the gate, each episode shows the “Scooby Gang” getting closer and stronger as a paranormal crime fighting team.

Buffy Season One
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To each generation a slayer his born, a chosen one who has both strength and courage to conquer all evil, forever having the fait of being alone and friendless, unless your Buffy. Season one is a T.V. series continuing from first time screenwriter’s, Joss Whedon, effort of a mainstream film, Buffy The Vampire Slayer. The series, only being 12 episodes long from a mid-season crunch for The WB, comes off a little unsure of its staying power, provides an all-inclusive season without a cliffhanger. Joss provides us with an inside look at the trials and tribulations of teenage life on the Hellmouth. Introducing the characters right out of the gate, each episode shows the “Scooby Gang” getting closer and stronger as a paranormal crime fighting team.

Plot: A teenage slayer, Buffy Summers, carries the wellbeing and safety of all inhabitants of Sunnydale on her shoulders. She must fight the evils of the world and underworld to keep all her friends safe and still try to get an A in her Geometry class. Buffy accomplishes her fait with the help of the “Scooby Gang” (Xander Harris, Willow Rosenberg, and Cordelia Chase) and her “Watcher” (Rupert Giles), the gang and her grow stronger with each monster they battle.

The Gang

Characters:

Buffy:(Sarah Michelle Gellar) The chosen one, the slayer, but still a teenage girl who wants to be normal and date like any other girl in her school. She’s not too quick with book smarts, but has a mouth like a whip and a questionable fashion sense.

Angel:(David Boreanaz) A 250-year-old vampire who is dark and brooding and starts out as a mysterious guy who gives Buffy little bits of advice to lead her along her dark path. Later on in the season the truth comes out about Angel’s life and his feeling for Buffy.

Giles:(Anthony Head) The “watcher”, Buffy’s trainer, teacher and coach; he keeps her in line and helps her understand her path. Gile’s cover is a librarian for Sunnydale High. Right from the beginning of the season Giles acts like a father figure for Buffy.

Xander:(Nicholas Brendon) Sensitive, unsure, comical relief guy, who always gets himself in some form of trouble. He has serious self-confidence issues and covers up his shortcomings with witty comments and jokes. Xander spends the season crushing on Buffy and oblivious to Willows feeling towards him.

Willow:(Alyson Hannigan) Nerdy computer girl, whose hacking skills add great assistance to the Scooby Gang. She is always looking for romance in all the wrong places and desperately wants to be noticed, but hides in Buffy’s shadow most of the time. Xander and her have been best friends since childhood and her feelings towards him have become less friendly and more romantic.

Cordelia:(Charisma Carpenter) Cliquish and snobby through and through, Cordy only thinks of herself and goes through her days completely oblivious to the real dangers that are complexing the students of Sunnydale High. She doesn’t see the monsters around her until the end of the season, when one of them comes after her and all her friends. She plays a significant role in the show, but a small one in the Scooby Gang during the first season.

The Master:(Mark Metcalf) Lead bad guy, but he only appears on and off throughout the season. He wants to kill Buffy, escape his mystical jail and rule Sunnydale, this makes him a pretty simple and flat lead bad guy and since he never does any of the fighting himself and only sent minions to do his evil bidding then he’s not really that evil.

Darla:(Julie Benz) Angel’s maker, the two spent centuries together and when Angel got his soul she left him. Darla plays The Master’s right hand (wo)man, but gets a stake through the heart halfway through the season.

Miss. Calendar:(Robia LaMorte) Computer teacher and Giles love interest. She plays a big part in season two.

Joyce Summers:(Kristine Sutherland) Buffy’s there sometimes and not other times, mom.

Buffy’s First Day

Episodes:
Welcome to the Hellmouth

Buffy continues with a transfer from a school, which she burned down in the original film. Meeting Xander a skater and dork first, then Cordelia snobbish click leader and Willow nerd girl. Yummy, running into Angel was quite a treat and The Master yuk gross. Willow really never could dress and Xander stays the comic relief no matter what. Angel is always suave and smooth. Then she meets Giles, the British uptight watcher/librarian. She doesn’t want to listen to Giles, at first, she doesn’t’ want to be the slayer, but he convinces her that this is her talent and her birthright and she must.

Buffy, suspicious of a student’s death, she finds herself checking his neck and returning to Giles for help and further training to start her role as the protector of Sunnydale. Xander over hears their conversation and the Scooby Gang are assembled quickly and the group starts slaying.

The Bronze being hangout central and cool bands with coffee and non-alcoholic beverages. Willow instantly finds herself as dinner and Buffy comes to the rescue. The Master wants to escape his mystical jail and it’s up to Buffy to keep him in his place.

We meet Darla right out of the gates and the introduction to the Harvest begins.

The Harvest

The Scooby Gang is in full force talking in the library about vampires and demons. Enter the world of computers and Willow’s strongest contribution to the gang. The Master still wants out and Buffy is the key, he sends his minions off to have a little dinner at The Bronze and strengthen his abilities to escape. All goes wrong when Buffy shows up and stops The Harvest. Angel helps out with cryptic messages, but keeps his distance in fights.

The Witch

This episode shows us the implications of how much pressure parents can put on their kids. Buffy tries out for the cheerleading squad and becomes second alternate and soon finds herself under the curse of a witch. Amy’s mom takes over her body to relive her glory days as the queen of Sunnydale High’s cheerleading squad. The gang gathers their resources and Giles reverses the spell.

Teacher’s Pet

Xander dreams of being a rock star and Buffy’s hero. Buffy’s favorite teacher becomes lunch for a female preying mantis and Xander is kidnapped for mating purposes. Angel accidentally throws Buffy off track with some new bad guys in town. Buffy figures out what the new substitute teacher really is, kills the bad guys and saves the day.

Angel

Never Kill a Boy on the First Date

Buffy shows that she still is a teenage girl and wants a normal life, she tries to date and it, of course, fails. The Master is trying to escape, yet again, by bringing the anointed one to town. Buffy thinks that she has killed the anointed one, but doesn’t know she got the wrong guy. She finds out that she isn’t capable of having a normal teenage dating life and starts to go all warm inside for Angel. Xander starts to show some jealousy and crushing on Buffy and Angel shows jealousy when he runs into her and her date at The Bronze.

The Pack

The Pack gives insight on the need to be accepted and the negative implications of teenage cliques. While on a field trip to the zoo, Xander and a mean clique of kids get possessed my hyenas. The group starts to prey on the emotions of students at Sunnydale High and moves onto attacking and eating the principle. Buffy and Willow, finding Xander’s change in personality weird, gets Giles in on a little research and finds the solution.

Angel

Darla shows back up to stir up trouble for Angel. Willow is still crushing on Xander. Angel finally comes out of the shadows to help Buffy in fighting the 3 who has been sent by The Master to kill her. Angel and Buffy kiss, he sleeps on her floor, she finds out he is a vampire and wigs out. Darla bites her mom, Angel is left holding the evidence, Buffy blames him and then goes after Angel to ultimately kill him. She couldn’t kill him and he couldn’t bite her, Darla shows up with guns a blazing and Buffy finds out the truth about Angel’s curse. Angel has a soul, because he killed a treasured gypsy clan member. Darla is dusted and Buffy is in love with Angel.

I, Robot…You, Jane

Willow shows her need for love and romance from the opposite sex by falling for an internet buddy. Some insight on the problems with trusting online dating. Demon possesses school’s computers and charms Willow to turn himself back into corporeal form. Miss Calendar shows herself as a trusted new member of the Scooby Gang with her online witch coven and Giles fins her attractive. Buffy, with the help of Miss. Calendar, Xander and Giles, saves Willow in the nick of time.

The Puppet Show

A wooden puppet is a demon fighter, but misunderstood for a form of Chucky, the evil little doll who wants to be human.

Nightmares

The Scooby Gang and all of Sunnydale are introduced to their worse nightmares. A little boy was beat up after a little league game and put into a comma. He is in a permanent state of nightmare and escapes into the real world, bringing his curse with him. Xander finds himself naked in front of the class; Willow is supposed to sing first soprano opera, Giles forgets how to read and Buffy becomes a vampire. Buffy fights the ugly man who beat the boy and helps release him from his nightmares in time to save Sunnydale from theirs.

Out Of Mind, Out of Sight

A girl is ignored over and over again until she literally becomes invisible. Angry and scorned, invisible girl takes her revenge on everybody who ignored her. Cordelia being the meanest of them all, gets hit the hardest. All her friends find themselves in harms way and she herself goes blind and then finally in a chair for an unwanted face lift. Buffy comes through again, to put invisible girl in her place and sends her off with the FBI. Cordelia wakes up to all the bad things that has been going on around her and ultimately joins the Scooby Gang.

The Scooby Gang computes

Prophecy Girl

This episode really shows Buffy’s hero side and the strength that the Scooby Gang contributes to the overall picture. Master tries to rise. Xander asks Buffy out and gets his heart broken. Angel steps forth as a true love interest. Willow and Cordelia finds a room full of dead students. Buffy goes down to face The Master and gets herself killed. Xander saves Buffy. The Scooby Gang faces off with a giant demon from the opening of the Hellmouth in the library. Buffy kills The Master. The whole gang dances in the end.

Overall season one is well written T.V. series that provides a great introduction to all the characters and enough interest to keep us coming back for more. It’s the lightest season of the series and most family friendly, as the other seasons start adding up so does the blood, sex, and mayhem. I don’t think anybody would have suspected that it would be the beginning of six more seasons for Buffy and five seasons for the show’s spin-off Angel, that is 9-years of vampire, demon and paranormal mystery solving.

A simple and heartwarming story about the love a mother has for her son and what she would do to protect him.

Frankie is a 9-year-old deaf boy who has never, to his recollection, met his father. He writes to him on a weekly bases not knowing that his mother has been retrieving his letters and writing back to him in his fathers stead. His mother can not stop the hoax, she feels it is the only way she gets to hear Frankie’s true voice. One day it all comes to head when his dad’s boat is to come into harbor and she is faced with either telling him the truth about his dad or hiring a stranger for the weekend to play dad. She chose the latter getting Gerard Butler’s character to play Frankie’s dad for a small sum. As the relationship evolves between Frankie and his fake dad, there is another one forming between mom and the impostor. The spark of romance is a very faint side note that takes way to long to fire up and dies down as soon as he leaves at the end of the film.

Dear Frankie
2 Stars

A simple and heartwarming story about the love a mother has for her son and what she would do to protect him.

Frankie is a 9-year-old deaf boy who has never, to his recollection, met his father. He writes to him on a weekly bases not knowing that his mother has been retrieving his letters and writing back to him in his fathers stead. His mother can not stop the hoax, she feels it is the only way she gets to hear Frankie’s true voice. One day it all comes to head when his dad’s boat is to come into harbor and she is faced with either telling him the truth about his dad or hiring a stranger for the weekend to play dad. She chose the latter getting Gerard Butler’s character to play Frankie’s dad for a small sum. As the relationship evolves between Frankie and his fake dad, there is another one forming between mom and the impostor. The spark of romance is a very faint side note that takes way to long to fire up and dies down as soon as he leaves at the end of the film.

Wanting more from the characters and their relationships and not getting it makes this film a little slow and too simplistic in it’s story telling. Dear Frankie was an okay story that could have been a wonderful bang, but fizzles out to a quiet snap. Give us love, give us passion, give us the true grit we expect from independent films and the Scottish.

Hitch, even though predictable and somewhat cookie cutter, is funny, sensitive and an easy watch. Will Smith keeps the audience tickled and well entertained in this romantic romp. What else could we expect from the director of Fools Rush In, Ever After, and Sweet Home Alabama, but yet another funny romantic comedy, Andy Tennant’s girlfriend/wife is one lucky lady.

Hitch
3 Stars

Alex ‘Hitch’ Hitchens (Will Smith) plays a hip and suave “Date Doctor”, he helps not so lucky guys get the women of their dreams in only 3-dates. Using little quips of advice, similar to a guy’s version of The Rules book, Alex instructs like a coach getting a player ready for the big game. He instructs his clients to look for the signs when on a date; for example, when she is fidgeting with her keys, that means she wants a goodnight kiss or don’t go all the way for that kiss make her follow up the last 10%. Hitch instructs them in the ways of love and confidence; all a woman needs to fall in love is a man with loads of confidence.

Released on DVD June 14

His latest client, Albert Brennaman (Kevin James), an overweight nerdy accountant with a massive crush on a beautiful client, society heiress Allegra Cole (Amber Valletta), proves to be quite a challenge. The funny thing is, is that Allegra is just as geeky as Albert and they are a perfect match for each other, but Albert needs Hitch to give him the confidence to move forward and approach her. While assisting his biggest challenge, Hitch runs into another challenge, more like an uphill climb, he falls for a gossip columnist, Sara Melas (Eva Mendes)

At first Sara tries to play all-coy not acting too interested and really making Hitch put out a great deal of effort to court her. Finally succumbing to his charms, she agrees to go on a date, Hitch turns out to be a babbling idiot under her powers. He spends more time tripping over himself and stammering, Sara only finds this to be more attractive and powerless under his charms.

Of course there is a hiccup, it’s set up in the romantic comedy formula. Guy meets girl or girl meets guy, one likes the other but the other doesn’t, then after a period of acting like primates they fall in love, after the love comes hardship and then love again. Well in the case of Hitch, Sara runs into a guy that Hitch would not help, but he sets Hitch up for a fall. The guy she runs into has hurt her best friend and totally pushes it off onto Hitch’s advice, she gets even by slandering him in her gossip column. In the process of trying to get even with Hitch, Sara ends up hurting Albert and Allegra’s relationship. Albert is heart broken at first, but realizes he truly has the confidence to fix this one on his own and goes after Allegra and wins her back. Hitch, on the other hand, wallows in self-pity for a while quits his business and sets up to leave town. Right before he hits the door he is hit with a little bit of truth serum and runs out to beg for forgiveness from Sara. Honestly, I feel Sara owes him a big sorry, for all the junk she stirred up, but Hitch does the apologizing and wins Sara back. The End.

Hitch is an awesome date movie, good for an evening at home with some candle light, pizza and “the love doctor”. It will make you and your “special” someone laugh and giggle, Hitch is a real treat for a light evening.

Available on UMD Mini For PSP. It’s cool seeing Will Smith really tiny, but Hitch isn’t a film that should be seen in that small of a format. PSP owners might not be the type who goes around watching films like Hitch by themselves and if they do, they don’t admit to it.