Month: May 2012

Wednesday’s “Steven Moffat talks companions, TNT picks up Monday Mornings and Animal Practice recasts” news

9 May 2012 Rob Buckley Post a comment

Doctor Who

Film

  • The Avengers‘ Clark Gregg joins Labor Day
  • Kellan Lutz and Vampire Diaries‘ Nina Dobrev join Kid Cannabis
  • Rebecca Hall to replace Jessica Chastain on Iron Man 3?
  • Sean Bean to star in trilogy based on Devil’s Peak books

Trailers

  • Trailer for William Friedkin’s Killer Joe with Matthew McConaughey
  • Trailer for She Wants Me with Josh Gad, Hilary Duff and Charlie Sheen
  • Trailer for Argo with Ben Affleck

UK TV

US TV

US TV pilots

Film

A great big, long, very slow hand-clap to Marvel: Black Widow Strikes

8 May 2012 Natalia Romanova 7 Comments

So, as we all know, not a lot of women read comics (honourable exception: me). Or at least superhero comics (another honourable exception: me).

There have been lots of theories as to why this should be, largely put out by men. However, at least one of these theories is that there aren’t any good representations of women in comics – that the female characters that there are are secondary, aren’t well characterised and are usually sexualised for the benefit of younger male readers, making female readers not seem very welcome.

Now DC hasn’t been doing particularly well here, with only about 7% of its readers female. But at least it has a few titles with female leads: Wonder Woman, Supergirl, Voodoo, Batgirl, Batwoman, Birds of Prey, and Catwoman, for starters, although some treat their female characters better than others. Over at Marvel, the situation is far worse, with the last female-led title, X-23, following hot on the heels of Ms. Marvel and Black Widow in getting cancelled.

That’s right – there’s not a single superhero title with a female lead at Marvel.

Now you’d have thought that with the largest opening movie of all time, The Avengers/Avengers Assemble, at the box office right now, it would be a golden opportunity for Marvel to capitalise on the fact that there’s a superheroine in the line up – Natasha Romanoff aka Black Widow – who, thanks to the mighty word processing powers of Joss Whedon, gets to kick arse a lot, isn’t second-fiddle to the men, and isn’t there to be someone’s girlfriend.

In fact, you’d be right. Look! It’s Marvel’s The Avengers: Black Widow Strikes, a prequel to the movie available in comic stores now.

Black Widow Strikes

Brilliant. All those women going into movies, seeing a decent superheroine character. They’ll pick up Black Widow Strikes, see there’s nothing to fear from the medium and hey presto, loads of new female comics readers, right?

Oh, wait.

Continue reading “A great big, long, very slow hand-clap to Marvel: Black Widow Strikes”

What did you watch last week? Including The Bridge, The Almighty Johnsons and Don’t Trust The B—-

8 May 2012 Rob Buckley 16 Comments

It’s “What did you watch last week?”, my chance to tell you what I watched last week that I haven’t already reviewed and your chance to recommend things to everyone else (and me) in case I’ve missed them.

The usual recommendations from the first-run shows are: The Almighty Johnsons, The Apprentice, Awake, BeTipul, The Bridge, Community, Cougar Town, The Daily Show, House, Mad Men, Modern Family, and 30 Rock. Hunt them down.

Only two episodes in the backlog this week: House and Touch. And I’m saving up the second series of Braquo for when the mother-in-law comes round.

Here’s a few thoughts on the regulars:

  • Mad Men – funny, interesting to see where they’re taking Megan as a character, but also Pete and Peggy. And who knew what a new man Don Draper was? And The Beatles – awesome.
  • Missing – an entirely predictable set of revelations, but Judd seems to have become crap at fighting all of a sudden
  • Cougar Town – glad they’re expanding the cast with the new character, who fits in well
  • Louis Theroux’s Extreme love: Autism – I have to ask – why did LT have to go to America to find some autistic children? We do have them here, you know. Was there an ethics problem or is there, as my wife suggests, an embarrassing lack of residential care facilities for autistic children in the UK?
  • The Almighty Johnsons – a lovely episode. Good to see the goddesses now coming front and centre, but it has to be said the male gaze is still there: it was a golden opportunity for the goddesses to explain becoming a goddess to Gaia but that was glossed over because essentially it’s all about the gods’ reactions to the goddesses, rather than the goddesses as people in their own rights. But I knew it was only a matter of time before other pantheons came into the show, and I’m pleased by the looks of the trailer for the next episode as to which one it might be.
  • Suburgatory – how quickly do women gestate in Suburgatory? Alicia Silverstone wasn’t showing at all last episode IIRC…
  • Awake – A bit dull, and a distinct lack of therapists
  • Community – Shocks all round from the finale! A weird episode, but still not very funny
  • 30 Rock – A spot on analysis of scripted reality shows bit rubbish and unfunny all the same.
  • Don’t Trust The B—- – And the show finds its feet again, this time with the first of the non-James Van Der Beek celebrity appearances: Kevin Sorbo. Let’s hope they can maintain this, even if Dreama Walker’s character still isn’t funny, despite her best efforts this episode.
  • The Bridge – well, I was expecting it to be a cop, so the revelation at the end of the last episode wasn’t too surprising. Then again, the previous episode revealed it might be Stefan, so maybe that’s not too conclusive a statement. Still very much enjoying it though.

“What did you watch this week?” is your chance to recommend to friends and fellow blog readers the TV and films that they might be missing or should avoid – and for me to do mini-reviews of everything I’ve watched. Since we live in the fabulous world of Internet catch-up services like the iPlayer and Hulu, why not tell your fellow readers what you’ve seen so they can see the good stuff they might have missed?