Film reviews

An archive of The Medium is Not Enough’s film reviews

What did you watch this week? Including The Fall, Harry, Hannibal, The Rum Diary and Don’t Trust The B—-

24 May 2013 Rob Buckley 17 Comments

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

First, the usual recommendations, which are somewhat dwindling now ‘summer’ has arrived:

  • Continuum (Showcase/SyFy)
  • The Daily Show (Comedy Central)
  • Don’t Trust The B—- (ABC)
  • The Fall (BBC2/Netflix)
  • Hannibal (NBC/Sky Living)

These are all going to be on in either the UK or the US, perhaps even both, but I can’t be sure which.

I tried a few new shows this week. I’ll save my thoughts on NBC’s Save Me for a full review, but here’s what I thought of the others:

The Fall (BBC2/Netflix)
Gillian Anderson in what is essentially Prime Suspect 20 years on – writer Allan Cubitt also wrote Prime Suspect 2 – and, for my money, almost as good. Anderson plays a Met police detective superintendent who goes to Belfast to audit an investigation into a murder. However, she quickly realises that she’s chasing a serial killer (Jamie Dornan). Rather than this being a whodunnit, we know from the beginning of Dornan’s culpability – instead, this a dual character piece that examines the equally cool, equally focused killer and cop. The investigation, which also touches on the different and highly political nature of policing in Northern Ireland (the police are all armed and the police station is more like a fort), is handled as realistically and as sensitively as can be, but there are disturbing scenes, despite the overall lack of any blood or violence.

Anderson is great as the cop, who unlike Helen Mirren’s Jane Tennison, doesn’t need to convince anyone of her abilities and is happy to have casual sex with whomever she pleases without apology, rather than agonise over relationships; Dornan’s equally good as the killer, who blends right in and even has a young daughter to care after. The writing’s first rate, although there are a few slaps-forehead moments and obviously, it’s yet another serial killer show. There’s also lots of good roles for both men and women. Weirdly, Archie Punjab from The Good Wife shows up as a motorcycle-riding pathologist.

Definitely one to watch – it’s going on the recommended list. American readers – this has been acquired by Netflix and shoot be available from the 28th of this month, but you can watch the first episode below.

Harry (TV3)
A six-part New Zealand series about a widowered cop with a teenage daughter and who’s doing his best to hunt down some violent robbers in a poor community. He has to work against the higher-ups, who are more concerned by headlines that the communities they police and against the demands of his job in raising his daughter. So far, so ordinary, you might think, and largely it is, despite the presence of Sam Neill (Jurassic Park) as Harry’s boss, complete with his normal NZ/Australian accent. What’s more interesting is that Harry is co-written by the star, Oscar Kightley, a Maori actor, and the show is bilingual and set largely in the Maori community. It’s got more in common with UK police shows than with US shows, although there are interesting differences, but beyond the cultural issues and twists, there’s not much here that you won’t have seen before.

Now, some thoughts on some of the regulars and some of the shows I’m still trying:

  • Arrested Development (Netflix): In preparation for the fourth Netflix-exclusive season, I’m trying once again to get into the original series. I’m up to about episode 13 and there have been a couple of episodes where I’ve ‘got’ what everyone loves about the show, but it’s not as funny as it should be.
  • Don’t Trust The B—- (ABC): The final batch of episodes are now available to stream from the ABC web site. Such a disappointment that the show was cancelled, since there’s some real dark originality in these episodes.
  • Hannibal (NBC/Sky Living): Superbly featuring a cameo by Lance Henriksen (Millennium), this week’s episode minimised the normal body horror slightly in favour of one of its other themes: the horror of madness, with Will becoming increasingly unhinged and worried for his own sanity. However, the most disturbing revelations are another character’s and left until last. I’m still deeply impressed by the show, and if NBC cancel it, they deserve everything they’re going to get. I’ve also just realised that Caroline Dhavernas (Dr Bloom) was the star of Bryan Fuller’s Wonderfalls, which shows you just what a loyal guy he is.

And in movies:

The Rum Diary
Directed by Bruce Robinson (Withnail and I), based on a novel by Hunter S Thompson, starring Johnny Depp, Amber Heard and Aaron Eckhart, it should all be great, huh? The novel certainly has an interesting story: Thompson wrote it in the 60s but it was never published until Depp found it lying around and persuaded Thompson to unleash it on the world. To be honest, it’s not a great novel: set on Puerto Rico, it lacks voice, although you get some of the hints of Thompson’s future themes (substance abuse, misogyny), and is really a mood piece about a journalist finding his way on the island.

The film, however, takes all of that and runs with it. Sharing little of the plot or dialogue, and losing a lot of the characters, it’s essentially a prequel to Thompson’s line, reconstructing the whole story so that it’s about how a journalist finds his voice in fighting against rich interests. With minor elements of the novel, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and even Withnail and I, it’s a whole lot better than the book, too, ditching the misogyny and aimlessness in favour of a much stronger narrative drive, although it still shares some unwelcome elements, including a rape scene (mercifully different from the book’s deeply unpleasant version). Johnny Depp returns to form as Paul Kemp, while Heard is clearly a little out of her depth at this stage in her career. There are some funny moments, but it’s not a movie to go out of your way to see, and doesn’t come close to the best of any of those involved.

“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?

What did you watch this fortnight? Including Syrup, Star Trek Into Darkness, Iron Man 3, Hannibal, Vicious, The Job Lot and Continuum

10 May 2013 Rob Buckley 8 Comments

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

First, the usual recommendations:

  • Arrow (The CW/Sky 1)
  • Continuum (Showcase/SyFy)
  • The Daily Show (Comedy Central)
  • Doctor Who (BBC1/BBC America)
  • Elementary (CBS/Sky Living)
  • Endeavour (ITV1)
  • Hannibal (NBC/Sky Living)
  • Modern Family (ABC/Sky 1)
  • Vegas (CBS/Sky Atlantic)

These are all going to be on in either the UK or the US, perhaps even both, but I can’t be sure which.

Still in the viewing queue: Netflix’s Hemlock Grove, which still doesn’t look appealing and last night’s Elementary.

I have tried a couple of new shows, though:

Vicious
Ian McKellen and Derek Jacobi camp it up something as a pair of ‘vicious old queens’ (that was the working title of the show, anyway). They’ve been living together for years, when a fit but clueless young man (Iwan Rheon from Misfits) moves into their building. If you’re in your 60s, this would probably be entertaining, since it’s the kind of studio-shot show that used to be made in the 70s and entirely consists of obvious and somewhat feeble jokes – it’s almost “call and response” TV – lightened by how the cast perform them. Rheon is wasted as the straight man to the jokes (ho, ho), but it’s entirely awful for anyone under 60.

The Job Lot
ITV’s other new sitcom, this is more in the modern vein of comedy, with single camera shooting and no laugh track. Starring Russell Tovey and Sarah Hadland, it’s set in a West Midlands job centre and is a combination of The Office and any of the interactions with support desk customers in The IT Crowd. It’s also about as funny as unemployment.

Now, some thoughts on some of the regulars and some of the shows I’m still trying

  • The Americans (FX/ITV): Not an entirely surprising finale, but it’s interesting how you can find yourself rooting for the KGB, this episode being an inversion of the usual “staff back at HQ come up with desperate last ditch plan to help the agents in the field”. Looking forward to the next season.
  • Arrow (The CW/Sky 1): A definite pick-up this week, although the show is now not just tonally Batman Begins, it actually is Batman Begins. If it doesn’t turn out next week that The Dark Archer was trained by Ra’s al Ghul and the League of Shadows, I’ll be very surprised. Didn’t quite buy John Barrowman as King Karate, but hey ho.
  • Continuum (Showcase/SyFy): Starting to meander a bit, now. Despite the occasional shoot out to try to lift the pace, this is more about setting up ideas than plot. Basically, more budget, needs to be bigger and more cool things need to happen.
  • Elementary (CBS/Sky Living): Excellent episode last week, as we once more return to the serial plot involving Moriarty, and Vinnie Jones returns. I think they’re now torturing him deliberately by getting him to sing Arsenal chants.
  • Endeavour (ITV1): All very nicely done, and the break away from pure murder-mystery procedural to look at 1960s London gangsterism and the somewhat “making it up as we go along” approach to policing violent crime was welcome. But the whodunnit was somewhat daft.
  • Hannibal (NBC/Sky Living): Last week, we got into the strange situation of a prequel to Silence of the Lambs actually mining most of the plot of Silence of the Lambs to the extent that Silence of the Lambs couldn’t really happen as a movie without someone in-story wondering about cosmic coincidences. It also took on a vital scene from Red Dragon and gave it to another character, to the extent that the back story will have to change significantly by the time season 3 rolls round (season 4 being Red Dragon). Nice to see Veep‘s Anna Chlumsky and The X-Files‘ Gillian Anderson back on US TV, not so nice to see Eddie Izzard trying to be a serial killer.
  • Vegas (CBS/Sky Atlantic): It’s all gearing up well for the finale, but this clearly isn’t the show it was when it started and all the life seems to have drained out of it. Looking forward to a big confrontation with Michael Ironside tonight.

And in movies:

Syrup
Based on the cult Max Barry novel of the same name, this sees Shiloh Fernandez come up with the idea for a marketing-driven soft drink called Fukk, which he pitches to young marketing executive Amber Heard, who promptly tries to steal his idea. He stops her, but they’re both outsmarted by Fernandez’s pal Kellan Lutz. Cue a battle of the cola companies. Unfortunately, while the book had a kind of young energy and largely revolved around Heard’s character guiding Fernandez’s through the moves and counter-moves of office politics, this becomes a more conventional romance with few funny moments and almost no real wit, beyond demonstrating the emptiness of marketing. Indeed, the filmmakers (including Barry who co-scripted it) unfortunately decided that the movie’s message had to be “Marketing Bad” and the entire plot, right down to the conclusion, is switched to reflect that. Obviously they were never going to be able to adapt the book 100% faithfully (not unless Tom Cruise, Gwyneth Paltrow, Coke and others had jumped on board to create a sci-fi blockbuster within the movie), but in the adaption, too much was ripped out.

Fernandez is a bit too fey for ‘Scat’, Amber Heard gives one of her best performances as ‘6’ but lacks confidence in some scenes, while Lutz is silent for the majority of the movie. Weirdly, Kate Nash cameos as a receptionist.

Iron Man 3
Weirdly, a better movie than both of its predecessors, particularly Iron Man 2, but I didn’t love it as much. It’s a strange amalgam of the Extremis comic strip, James Bond and Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, with Robert Downey Jr running around by himself, almost like a secret agent, for big chunks of the movie. Gwyneth Paltrow and Don Cheadle get less screen time, but what they do get gives them more to do than before. As well as a lot of wit and laugh out loud scenes, the story also features top racist Iron Man villain (Ben Kingsley), yet cleverly manages to flip the character around to play on that (no, no spoilers). Despite the inevitable descent into a CGI finale, the film still managed largely to retain its humanity throughout, and the ending serves as a good potential ending for the whole Iron Man franchise, if necessary. Yet, somehow, despite all this – and perhaps because of its more adult themes of – it just wasn’t as much fun or as enjoyable as the first.

Star Trek: Into Darkness
Can’t say too much without spoiling it, but it’s actually very good. Drags a bit in the middle, there’s a tragic death, and there’s a clever inversion of a previous movie – as well as an entertaining moment where (spoiler) Spock calls up his older self and asks for spoilers. Benedict Cumberbatch edges over into hammy in a couple of places and doesn’t look as buff as he needs to be for the role, the leery male gaze of the first movie is slightly downplayed but still present, and everybody gets something to do, although largely individually rather than together. Some very cool moments too, and the movie does diverge from its predecessor in saying that vengeance and warfare aren’t things that Starfleet should be involved in. Worth seeing, even if again, it doesn’t quite have the energy of the first movie.

“What did you watch this fortnight?” 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?

What did you watch this fortnight? Including Trance, Rogue, Bates Motel, Endeavour and Southland

21 April 2013 Rob Buckley 13 Comments

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

First, the usual recommendations:

  • The Americans (FX/ITV)
  • Arrow (The CW/Sky 1)
  • Being Human (US) (SyFy)
  • The Daily Show (Comedy Central)
  • Doctor Who (BBC1/BBC America)
  • Elementary (CBS/Sky Living)
  • Endeavour (ITV1)
  • Go On (NBC)
  • Hannibal (NBC/Sky Living)
  • Modern Family (ABC/Sky 1)
  • Plebs (ITV2)
  • Vegas (CBS/Sky Atlantic).

These are all going to be on in either the UK or the US, perhaps even both, but I can’t be sure which. Continuum returns in Canada tonight, so I’d suggest tuning in for that, too.

Still in the viewing queue: Friday night’s Las Vegas and last night’s Doctor Who (review tomorrow when I’ve seen it), as well as Netflix’s new release, Hemlock Grove. But I’ve tried a few new shows in the past couple of weeks:

Arne Dahl (BBC4)
Basically – as Stu_N put it – The Professionals with pilchards. Dreadful.

Rogue (DirecTV)
Thandie Newton is a very implausible, undercover cop whose son gets killed and she blames herself. Despite the decent cast, which includes Martin Csokas from Falcón and Ian Hart, an incredibly forgettable, derivative show.

I also watched the Easter Jonathan Creek special, which despite a whole lot of merits (the cast, the changes in format), was absolute ridiculous and bore no resemblance to reality. Plus how do you cast both Rik Mayall and Nigel Planer in a show and not have them meet?

Now, some thoughts on some of the regulars and some of the shows I’m still trying:

  • The Americans (FX/ITV): The usual problem that when show runner Joe Weisberg isn’t involved in the scripting, the episode just isn’t as authentic-feeling as the other episodes. The developments between the two Russians feel a little padded out, and I’m not sure they would have been quite so merciful this week, given their need to preserve their identities.
  • Bates Motel (A&E/Universal): Quite tedious now, and in no sense really related to Psycho, beyond names and presumably the eventual conclusion. Despite those blips of interest in the first three episodes, the show’s settled on a very dull formula now, with only Vera Farmiga’s character offering any real reason to watch.
  • Being Human (US) (SyFy): Another show that finished, leaving a lot of hanging storyline threads. The revelations haven’t been as impressive or as interesting as you might have hoped, and as I said last night, it does feel like the whole of this season could have been covered in just an episode or two.
  • Cougar Town (TBS/Sky Living): A somewhat uninteresting way to end the season, but also slightly deeper than normal. The writers didn’t take the show anywhere especially new, but having Tippi Hedren show up for the finale was worth watching it for anyway.
  • Endeavour (ITV1): Inspector Morse, back in its natural period – the 1950s. Nowhere near as impressive as its pilot episode, boiling down to an ability to solve crossword puzzles rather than make deductions, but Anton Lessing was perfect as the new superintendent.
  • Plebs (ITV2): More ahistorical than normal, with the arrival of bananas and a Thracian with a Russian accent (Anna Skellern from Big Finish’s Sapphire and Steel range), but still good fun, surprisingly historical in other ways and Bryan Murphy (George from George and Mildred) showed up as an old soldier.
  • Shameless (US) (Showtime/More4): A good and surprisingly optimistic finale that felt almost like a series finale. Where does the show go next?
  • Southland (TNT/Channel 4): Two episodes to finish off the season and perhaps the series. The first was a very hard and traumatic episode that unfortunately crossed the Southland line – despite being based on a real-life incident, didn’t feel like a Southland episode because it stopped being able the everyday life of cops. Thankfully, the final episode was more of a return to normal. It finished off a number of plot threads and left several hanging, in a way both satisfying a season-finale and a series-finale. And, of course, for one character, a shocking but entirely plausible end (?). If it is the series finale, that would be a shame for probably the best and most realistic cop show since The Wire.
  • Spartacus (Starz/Sky 1): And so it ends. Probably the most surprising bit of quality TV, given its graphic novel violence, sex and swearing (and Starz network home), Spartacus has continued to make Roman history interesting and Machiavellian fun. The finale was just about as good as it ever could be, given Spartacus has to disappear or die, the revolution has to fail, and Caesar and Crassus have to go on to rule Rome. Perhaps a little too anti-Roman, but it was still as intriguing as ever.
  • Vegas (CBS/Sky Atlantic): Michael Chiklis’s direction somehow made the usual sets look cheap and like a backlot, but the show is clearly struggling now to expand its format. I’m hoping that Carrie-Anne Moss gets a promotion now, since she’s had so precious little to do. Nevertheless, the show does look like it’s limping towards cancellation.

And in movies:

Trance
Danny Boyle directing, Joe Ahearne writing, Rosario Dawson, James McAvoy and Vince Cassel starring in a semi-Inception-like story about an art dealer who steals a painting with the help of a gang, but when he gets hit on the head, forgets where he hid the painting. So Cassel takes McAvoy to see hypnotherapist Dawson in an effort to recover its location, and she takes McAvoy (and the audience) through several levels of reality. While it does interesting things in terms of flipping notions of who is the protagonist and who is the antagonist in the narrative, has some shocking full-frontal nudity and violence, and says some interesting things about gender in thriller narrative, if you pay attention, you’ll have guessed most of the story’s secrets and revelations ages before the end.

“What did you watch this weekfortnight?” 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?

What did you watch this week? Including How To Live Life With Your Parents…, Corleone, The Raid and The Americans

7 April 2013 Rob Buckley 4 Comments

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

First, the usual recommendations:

  • The Americans (FX/ITV)
  • Archer (FX, 5USA)
  • Arrow (The CW/Sky 1)
  • Being Human (US) (SyFy)
  • The Daily Show (Comedy Central)
  • The Doctor Blake Mysteries (ABC1/ITV)
  • Cougar Town (TBS/Sky Living)
  • Doctor Who (BBC1/BBC America)
  • Elementary (CBS/Sky Living)
  • Go On (NBC)
  • Hannibal (NBC/Sky Living)
  • House of Cards (Netflix)
  • Modern Family (ABC/Sky 1)
  • Plebs (ITV2)
  • Shameless (US) (Showtime/More4)
  • Southland (TNT/Channel 4)
  • Spartacus (Starz/Sky 1)
  • Vegas (CBS/Sky Atlantic).

These are all going to be on in either the UK or the US, perhaps even both, but I can’t be sure which.

I’m adding to the recommended list both Plebs (ITV2) and Hannibal (NBC/Sky Living) (hopefully, I’m not being too quick off the mark there).

Still in the viewing queue: Jonathan Creek, last night’s Orphan Black, Arne Dahl and Rogue. I’ll be reviewing last night’s Doctor Who on Monday, when I’ve woken up. But I’ve tried a few new shows this week:

How To Live With Your Parents For The Rest of Your Life (ABC)
In which Sarah Chalke (Scrubs, Mad Love) is once again wasted, this time in an incredibly bland sitcom with an almost zero joke count. The story, for what it’s worth, is that Chalke splits up from her no-hope, but good-hearted husband and takes her kid with her to live with her parents. Six months later, she’s still there. Everyone, including Elizabeth Perkins as Chalke’s mother, tries really, really hard to make this work, but i’s just utterly bland.

Corleone (Sky Arts)
2007 Italian crime drama aka Il Capo dei Capi based on the life of real-life gangster Salvatore Riina, aka Totò u Curtu, growing up in post-war Sicily. Surprisingly well made for Italian TV, it is, nevertheless, completely unremarkable and lacking in interest for anyone who doesn’t know about said gangster. Trailer over here, for those who want one.

I’ve also been watching a few things on Netflix, just to mix things up a bit:

Black Books
Yes, I never watched Black Books. Treat me like the leper I am. The first episode wasn’t bad and it surprised me to see Martin Freeman in it as a doctor, doing the exact same Martin Freeman routine he’s apparently been doing for the last 12 years now. Still feels like a slightly less funny cousin to Spaced, Hippies and The IT Crowd. But I’ll keep watching when I have time.

House of Cards (remake)
I finally got to the end of it. Yes, it ends on a cliffhanger. Yes, that cliffhanger is not the same as the BBC original’s cliffhanger. Yes, nothing much at all is resolved. But it’s still magnificent.

Spiral (season 1)
Yes, I know I’ve watched it already, but I thought I’d give season one a re-watch, since I’m now horrified to discover it was filmed in 2005 (although I think it took BBC4 a couple of years to pick it up). It’s remarkable to see what’d different and what’s changed. The directorial style, with the CGI zoom and crash zooms with sound effects are just weird; the swearing was considerably less than it is now; it’s filmed in Summer, so everything looks sunny for a change; Laure’s happy; Karlsson’s still learning how to be evil from the drunk struck-off solicitor; Clement’s still a magistrate; Romanians are the ethnic enemies; Pierre and Laure are shagging like very French bunnies. It’s all just so fascinating to watch and fun to see how the Spiral formula is still being worked on.

Now, some thoughts on some of the regulars and some of the shows I’m still trying:

  • The Americans (FX/ITV): Just keeps getting better every week, blurring the boundaries between who’s good and who’s bad in the cold war between the KGB and the FBI. The separation was unexpected, as was the final killing, and while the show obviously amps up the intrigue beyond what the KGB would have allowed their sleeper agents to do, it’s all done in as unshowy a manner as possible. A regular must-see.
  • Arrow (The CW/Sky 1): Despite the presence of Count Vertigo, this episode surprisingly didn’t suck and was actually quite good. Nice to see that they’re making the Chinese woman Oliver’s flashback mentor, rather than Deathstroke.
  • Being Human (US) (SyFy): Another US TV season ends with an overly sentimental wedding. Quelle surprise. But despite some good jokes in this final episode, it’s largely been a bit of waste of a season, offering no real plot advancement, with everything that happened in the first few episodes effectively reset by the end of the season. There have been a few changes and clearly a whole lot of things are being set up for next season that might pay off. But unlike the British original, it’ll probably still be worth watching. UPDATE: Duh! Obviously, it wasn’t the season finale. Silly me…
  • The Doctor Blake Mysteries (ABC1/ITV): A decent 10 episodes of intelligent TV period crime drama. It became a little formulaic towards the end, with less of the period commentary than before, but the story arc about Blake’s family was very well handled and moving, and the ending only promises good things for the future.
  • Elementary (CBS/Sky Atlantic): Surprisingly close to a genuine Sherlock Holmes mystery, although Jill Flint was badly unused. The addition of Doyle’s Hudson to the roster of characters was very welcome, changing the Watson/Holmes dynamic in useful ways, and well handled, too, given the changes made by the producers. The story was also a good way to capitalise on New York’s recent weather ‘issues’.
  • It’s Kevin (BBC2): Cameos from Stewart Lee, Peter Serafinowicz, Matt Berry and more show how respected Kevin Eldon is. Definitely getting better but a little bit of an acquired taste. The Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber sketch was marvellous though.
  • Parks and Recreation (NBC/BBC4): Six episodes into the second season and I’ve finally see a funny episode that didn’t entirely depend on Ron Swanson for the jokes. And that’s after an episode that didn’t have Ron in it at all, and so was virtually unwatchable.
  • Plebs (ITV2): While largely The InBetweeners in Roman times, it’s surprisingly clever and this week’s “role reversal” episode where the hero and his slave swapped jobs for day and the two cousins who shag were interesting marriages of laddish humour with Roman cultural differences. If you watch one ITV2 show, this is the one to watch.
  • Shameless (US) (Showtime/More4): Surprisingly, not the final episode of the season, despite the apparent resolution of so many plot threads, including an unexpected act of kindness by Frank. What they do tonight should be the last thing we expect then.
  • Southland (TNT/Channel 4): More or more like a series of vignettes, rather than an actual drama, with our characters almost aware that their television time is drawing to an end and looking for personal closure. A great couple of cameso this week for long-time fans of the show, which I’m hoping will lead to more by the end of the season.
  • Strike Back (Sky 1/Cinemax): I’m finally catching up with this, which has been sitting on my Apple TV for months now. Funny to see Tim Piggott-Smith running around with a sub-machine gun, Charles Dance being an arms dealer, and
  • Spartacus (Starz/Sky 1): We’re on the home straight of the season, the traditional time for the show to really dig into the politics and intrigue. An almost nostalgic episode, where the gladiators return to the ‘arena’, various characters get the vengeance they want and deserve, and with the arrival of the third member of Caesar/Crassus triumvirate, Pompey (if not yet in person), it’s starting to feel more and more like a prequel to Rome as well as decent ending for one of the most surprising shows on cable TV in years.
  • Vegas (CBS/Sky Atlantic): Finally realised that the FBI guy is Shawn Doyle (with US accent and black hair) from Endgame. An odd little procedural about an under-age prostitute, with a somewhat surprising, feminist conclusion that once again shows what a standout Sarah Jones is. That, and the addition of a new title sequence, suggests the producers have been having a slight rethink in the show’s extended absence. Needs a little more umph, but still a good drama and a cut above the standard CBS procedural.

And in movies:

No Country For Old Men
An excellent movie with a great cast. Josh Brolin finds some money, Javier Bardem chases him with a bad haircut, Sheriff Tommy Lee Jones wanders around cluelessly. It’s quite a scary movie, in some senses, where the moral of the story is that even if you are a Vietnam vet and a hunter, there’s always someone deadlier than you out there, and beyond that is God/Fate who can kick that person to the kerb, too. It’s ending defies analysis, too, although it’s efforts to defy the standard Hollywood traditions of how plots must be resolved, particularly violent plots, is welcome.

The Raid
An elite Indonesian SWAT team have to take in a crime lord who lives at the top of a building. To get to him, they have to shoot, punch, stab, kick and beat everyone they come across along the way, in what is largely a demonstration of the Indonesian martial art of pencak silat, starring some of the art’s greatest living practitioners. Not exactly the most plot-driven or character-rich movie out there, but a cracking action film, incredibly shot on a ridiculously low budget, that’ll be too violent for a lot of people. Came out at the same time as Dredd 3D, to which it bears such a similarity that it largely (unfairly) killed that movie’s box office.

Bad Boys 2
Dreadful, even by Michael Bay standards. Shame, because Bad Boys was actually quite good.

“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?

What did you watch this fortnight? Including It’s Kevin, Plebs, GI Joe: Retaliation, Parks and Recreation, and Arrow

28 March 2013 Rob Buckley 9 Comments

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

First, the usual recommendations:

  • The Americans (FX/ITV)
  • Archer (FX, 5USA)
  • Arrow (The CW/Sky 1)
  • Being Human (US) (SyFy)
  • The Daily Show (Comedy Central)
  • The Doctor Blake Mysteries (ABC1/ITV)
  • Cougar Town (TBS/Sky Living)
  • Elementary (CBS/Sky Living)
  • Go On (NBC)
  • House of Cards (Netflix)
  • Modern Family (ABC/Sky 1)
  • Shameless (US) (Showtime/More4)
  • Southland (TNT/Channel 4)
  • Spartacus (Starz/Sky 1)
  • Vegas (CBS/Sky Atlantic).

These are all going to be on in either the UK or the US, perhaps even both, but I can’t be sure which.

A combination of pluses and minuses in terms of time means that although I’ve nearly watched all of House of Cards, there’s still a lot left in my viewing queue, including the latest episodes of The Bates Motel, Modern Family, Archer, Cougar Town and Southland. I’m sure they’ll survive without me for a bit, and the Easter weekend should give me a chance to catch up. All the same, I have had the chance to try out a couple of new shows:

It’s Kevin
Kevin Eldon’s been one of the stalwarts of British comedy for the last 20 years or so – his Big Train appearances, especially his George Martin impressions, were all great, as were his appearances on shows like Fist of Fun. So I had high hopes for this, his first leading comedy role. And it’s all right. The second episode was considerably funnier than the first, but largely it’s the kind of show that’s intellectually interesting and raises the occasional smile, but nothing laugh out loud funny.

Plebs
I had firm expectations of disliking this, ITV2’s Roman era answer to The InBetweeners. And it certainly fits The InBetweeners mould, with three lads – two mates, one sensitive, one all mouth (but no trousers – literally) and their slave – moving to Rome from the country where they get office jobs (apart from the slave) and try to pull girls, with minimal success. But despite my expectations, it is actually surprisingly funny. Although essentially it’s an ahistoric transposition Up, Pompeii/Flintstones-style of modern society onto an ancient society, the show manages to maintain some degree of in-story excuse for it – that the lads are from outside Rome (hence plebs or plebeians) and the girls are from Britain, so are culturally backward – and have the actual Romans sex-happy, nudity-happy, etc, in a more accurate way (although bouncers at clubs, women without male Romans to be in charge of them, an emphasis on scrolls rather than wax tabular, and a Venus sculpture without arms because, you know, the Venus de Milo doesn’t have arms, are just some of the minor infractions that still take place for comedic purposes). Those minor niggles aside, it’s still funny, if a little conventional, the CGI to make it seem like Roman times is pretty good, and you have the likes of Doon Mackichan, Adrian Scarborough and Joel Fry to make the funny happen, so it’s a cautious semi-recommendation from me. Just don’t think of it as being “as good as revision” as some viewers have suggested.

Parks and Recreation
Yes, I have actually watched episodes of this before, but seeing as there’s a movement that seems to think P&R is funny, I thought, since BBC4 was showing them all from the beginning, that I’d give it yet another try. So far, I’ve seen all of season 1 and although it does get better towards the end of the season and I actually began to laugh at other moments and characters, for the first few episodes at least, the basic flowchart was: Is Ron Swanson on? No – not funny; Yes – funny. It was literally that simple. I’m told it gets better in the second season. I hope so.

Watch this trailer and you’ll see what I mean.

Now, some thoughts on some of the regulars:

  • The Americans (FX/ITV): One of those shows where if the show runner’s name is on the writing credits, it’s really good, but suffers when it’s not. Fortunately, last week’s saw our Joe return to writing duties, and we had a lovely cold piece about how spies can’t trust one another, even if they’re married.
  • Arrow (The CW/Sky 1): So now we have Alex Kingston (River Song from Doctor Who) in scenes with Paul Blackthorne (also British), both pretending to be Americans, not 100% successfully. And there’s John Barrowman, too. So weird. Anyway, two episodes, one utter rubbish, one pretty good – as usual, it’s Huntress (about a million miles from her comic book persona) who’s to blame, since she’s Geoff Johns’ baby and Johns appears to be a quality curse when it comes to Arrow. Felicity should also get a panic button, I reckon. But last night’s was a lot better, and the Batman Begins-inspired plot that they’ve been hinting at (potential spoiler: Merlin/Barrowman having gone off to the land of the League of Assassins/Shadows to learn how to be the Dark Archer) looks like it’s coming to fruition. Odd to see the lengths they’re going to to keep Arrow’s Chinese mentor out of the flashbacks’ main narrative, but they’re definitely going for the long game now. And is it my imagination or are they hinting that Felicity has the hots for Oliver?
  • Being Human (US) (SyFy): Two episodes, one funny, one less funny. The first gave us Sam Witwer’s attempt at an English accent. Or maybe it was Irish. It also showed us that essentially the whole season has been a diversion, with everything likely to return to the status quo that was the beginning of the season, after experimenting with changing more or less everyone’s set-up (spoiler: Aidan being the only vampire, more or less, before they all start coming back again; Sally being alive, then a zombie, then a ghost again, probably; Josh not being a werewolf then becoming a werewolf again). But at least Deanna Russo is getting work after the horror that was the Knight Rider remake.
  • The Doctor Blake Mysteries (ABC1/ITV): A story that was suspiciously about Asperger’s without actually being about Asperger’s, which was interesting. Also a fun look at what Australian TV was like at the time, with an appropriately fun ending where (spoiler alert: they all decided to play Pontoon instead of watching any more). Not necessarily the most plausible plot line, though.
  • Shameless (US) (Showtime/More4): A couple of funny episodes, with William H Macey really make Frank his own now. Plus Bradley Whitford playing gay (or is he gay?)!
  • Spartacus (Starz/Sky 1): After seasons of women being raped to provide plot motivation, Spartacus finally moves into male rape with the rape of (spoiler alert: Caesar) no less. And quite an important couple of deaths, too, although given everyone knows that Spartacus’s slave revolt failed, it wasn’t hugely surprising. Good to see them breaking up the important deaths, though, rather than offing everyone in one go, so that everyone gets their time in the sun.

And in movies:

GI Joe: Retaliation 3D
A surprising movie. Or should I say movies?

While ostensibly a sequel to 2009’s GI Joe, with a few of that movie’s cast members returning (Channing Tatum, Ray Park, Byung-hun Lee, Jonathan Pryce, Arnold Vosloo, some of whom are more or less just cameos, but I won’t spoil it for you by saying who), largely it’s a reboot, designed to get rid of some of the deadwood (Christopher Eccleston, that’s you, but so are most of the original Joes), and introduce a new cast to the franchise led by The Rock, almost-Wonder Woman Adrianne Palicki, possibly Bruce Willis as well (he’s in it, anyway) and… some other guy (DJ Corona from Detroit 1-8-7 and Windfall. Yes, him. Remember him? No, me neither.)

But it’s a weird movie(s) that beyond a few elements is very little like the original. Essentially, it consists of one movie that’s a proper war movie, with people behaving like proper soldiers, with firefights and Apache gunships, and that features The Rock, Palicki and Corona. Then there’s another spy movie, where they’re sneaking into places in disguise, that features the same bunch, as well as Ray Stevenson (Rome, Dexter, The Punisher: War Zone) with a dodgy southern accent. Then there’s a third movie that’s basically Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon with ninjas and its own, more or less separate cast (Park, Lee, Elodie Yung). And then it all finishes off by becoming Megaforce.

But despite having that core base layer of stupid, largely derived from its source Saturday morning cartoon to which it pays homage on more than one occasion, it does have some surprising touches. Cobra Commander’s plot to take over the world is impressively not stupid, involves actual science and hasn’t been done before. Some of the action sequences are well shot and choreographed. Palicki is over-sexualised, including a couple of quite voyeuristic points when she’s taking off her clothes, and her ability to attract any man, no matter what, is implausible, but largely she’s treated as an equal of the other Joes, she’s given some background story and a lot of the time, she gets to wander around in jeans, not being sexy (Michael Bay this is not). And since there’s the addition of Jinx to the core roster, there are actually two kick ass women, rather than just the usual token one. The motivations for the villainous Lee are also even more nuanced than you’d suspect.

It’s still epically stupid most of the time, the fast action makes the 3D malfunction, and it still somehow feels like a 1980s action TV show that’s been given a phenomenal budget, but it’s a damn sight better than the original.

“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?