Month: March 2009

Random Acts

Random Acts of Ali Larter: fun and feisty

5 March 2009 Rob Buckley 8 Comments

Ali Larter being fun and feisty

Today, Ali Larter is being fun and feisty.

Is it because she’s having a verbal smackdown with Greg Grunberg over whether Heroes has been cancelled or not? That’s probably part of it.

Or is it because she’s just won an award for being fun and feisty? Probably, so why not.

Or is it because she’s finally going to have something to do in every episode from now on in Heroes, since Bryan Fuller’s back? I’d be off having fun if I were her.

Or is it simply because it was Square Root Day this week? Of course. That brings out the fun, feisty side of anyone. Why didn’t I think of that in the first place?

UPDATE: I do love the fact she was having so much fun with her gal pals after the awards ceremony, she got drunk and left her award behind.

Thursday’s so many pilots news

5 March 2009 Rob Buckley 2 Comments

Doctor Who

Film

Theatre

British TV

US TV

The CarusometerA Carusometer rating of 4

Third-episode verdict: Eastbound and Down

4 March 2009 Rob Buckley 4 Comments

Third-episode verdict time for Eastbound and Down, Will Ferrell and Adam McKay’s sports-related comedy about a failed major league baseball player who returns to his home town to become a teacher. The only problem? He’s a complete a-hole.

After a not desperately promising start, things looked like they were going to get better with the second episode, a reasonably funny piece with a cameo by Will Ferrell himself as a BMW dealer almost as a-holey as our ‘hero’.

But episode three wasn’t even pilot episode funny, with few jokes and a worrying tendency to suggest that the hero was going to learn some valuable lessons in life. Oh no.

Ultimately, while there are a few yucks to be had both from its political incorrectness and from its laughing at the jock hero who thinks he’s the business – but really, really isn’t – the joke’s just not able to sustain the show: you get acclimatised to Danny McBride’s insensitivity and stupidity and the show stops being funny and you just don’t notice his offensiveness any more. The characters aren’t really sufficient to fill in the gaps left behind, either.

So despite its promising pedigree, I’d say don’t bother.

Carusometer rating: 4
Prediction: It’s HBO, so it’ll last the season, but won’t get renewed.

US TV

Jack Bauer is a character no more

4 March 2009 Rob Buckley 4 Comments

There are a couple of interesting things about the current season of 24:

  1. It’s good. No, really it is. After the last season which even the writers’ were hating as they wrote, they’ve had a sit down, thought about what was wrong and fixed it. We’ve even had the “there’s a second shooter” moment which has neatly divided the season into two parts to avoid plot fatigue. The launch of the second part was on Monday – and wasn’t it exciting?
  2. Jack Bauer is starting to become a real person.

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