High on an Avengers buzz, I went and bought the animated series on bluray. So far, I’m loving it, but sweet Christ, do I leap for the fast forward button every time the opening credits start. It’s like somebody took the brilliant electric guitar of classic cartoon themes like Thundercats and Transformers, then shat all over it and lay some whiney nu metal vocals everywhere.
And the worst thing is, it sticks in your head.
Awwww shit.
During filming of the second series, a horse suffered a head injury while being lead to the stable and had to be put down. Two horses had died during the filming of the first series, so HBO, David Milch and Michael Mann have announced that the show is ceasing production.
I haven’t seen any of Luck yet, and now I’m not sure if I’ll bother. It’s been said that it’s a hard show to become endeared to, but apparently it becomes interesting after four episodes. Which leads nicely to this question posed by The Guardian TV blog recently; How long do you give a show before you switch off?
I’m in the midst of doing up a list of shows I’ve gotten bored of over the past year. It’s substantial.
I live with my girlfriend and for the most part, our taste in television overlaps. We like Dexter, we like Homeland, we’ve just started watching Justified.
We watch a lot of shows together, but we don’t always agree.
There’s often a tug-of-war for the remote and our television becomes the staging area for some sort of World War I style trench warfare, which I’m using as a clunky metaphor to segueway awkwardly into this info chart:
Click image for a larger view
Who doesn't think "Crippled Doctor" when they see Lucy Liu?
Ok, so only half of that is true, but while they’re at it, CBS might aswell go all out on the ridiculous factor.
If you haven’t heard, Liu will play Jane Watson in the US “not a ripoff we swear” take on Sherlock Holmes (crappily-titled Elementary) that, in a fresh twist, is set in modern times.
Jonny Lee Miller will play Sherlock, which is probably the only interesting thing about this.
It’s hard to sit down to this show without any preconceptions. An ensemble cast that includes Jorge Garcia trying to solve a mystery pertaining to a creepy island, to the backdrop of a plinky-plink piano score courtesy of Michael Giacchino. These comparisons are a bit easy and obvious, but make them we must.
But it turns out Alcatraz bears more resemblance to another Abrams production; it’s more Fringe-y than Lost-esque. Fringe and Alcatraz are both case-of-the-week-police-procedurals with a core mystery and a rag-tag team of experts mysteriously operating below the radar. Just look at the character similarities: the hard-as-nails blonde police protagonist who has a central involvement to the mystery that she is unaware of, the knowledgeable and humorous sidekick, the older, wiser figure who knows more than they’re letting on, the ethnic lab assistant who doesn’t really say much. This is the Fringe B-team. Continue reading
You’d be amazed at just how much green screen is used in television.
Courtesy: Tony Reilly of the DSB
Psst. Did you hear the one about the Gaul and the Thracian?
I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t disconcerting to have a different voice saying Spartacus’ lines and a different face looking back at Crixus, but after an uncertain opening, this much welcome return to the sands of Capua finished with Liam McIntyre sufficiently proving himself.
The first half of this episode did feel a bit jarring. Lots of new faces (Spartacus included); no “previously on” meant I was honestly struggling to remember what had happened a lot of characters (it was two years ago) and Battiatus was sorely missed. But as we were slowly reintroduced to familiar faces, it all came flooding back and the outline for this season became clear.
This season will clearly be driven by its title, vengeance. After being absent for most of last season, the Evil Roman Dude who killed Spartacus’ wife is back. He’s been so scarce up until now that I can’t even remember his name and refuse to look it up, so Evil Roman Dude he shall be. This guy was the most hated audience target early season 1, and now he’s stepped up in Season 2 to replace the massive void that Battiatus has left. Continue reading
Spoilerings Alert
So Dexter season 6 was a bit shit.
It was very shit really, but only when you compare it to how good this show was and can be.
Here’s where it all went wrong for me: Continue reading
I was a latecomer to the “How I Met Your Mother” party.
I was, am and will be sceptical of the average American sitcom, in general. As soon as I hear a laugh track, the show is instantly guilty under the “Offenses Against Intelligent Humour Act” and must prove itself innocent. This bias is probably down to the overwhelming amount of substandard crap that this format is known for.
For every Friends, Seinfeld or Frasier, there are a thousand Mikes and Mollies, Just Shoot Me’s or Shits My Dad Sayses.
But after six seasons of not watching HIMYM I had finally caught enough snippets and half episodes for my interest to be piqued. I sat down and watched seasons 5 and 6 in their entireties (not all in one go, I’m not that crazy) and was surprised at how tightly written and clever it was. Continue reading
