French TV

Review: Braquo 1×1

4 November 2011 Natalia Romanova 12 Comments

Braquo

In the UK: Sundays, 10pm, FX UK
In France: Canal+. First broadcast 2009

Once upon a time – i.e. five or six years ago – FX was the place to go to if you wanted to watch the best, most niche US TV shows. The Wire was on FX years before DVD and BBC2 showings made it nearly a household name, while Dexter and numerous other top-quality shows aired only on FX or aired on it first.

Then along came Sky Atlantic and screwed all that up. Have a look at the roster now and yes, there’s The Walking Dead, True Blood and American Horror Story, but that’s three horror shows, only one of which is any good and everything else is just re-runs. And let’s not start on the fact The Defenders is on there. That’s just embarrassing.

So FX came up with a cunning idea: let’s see what countries other than the US have to offer. So it started with Canadian TV. Along came The Border, which wasn’t half bad, The Listener, which was, and ReGenesis and The Booth At The End, which I admit I’ve never seen but which I also admit I don’t feel inspired to watch, either.

But hunting for good quality Canadian TV can be tricky. For every, The Border, jPod, Being Erica or Endgame, there’s a The Line, Men With Brooms, InSecurity, Good Dog or XIII waiting to make you regret your TV-watching decision. FX can’t exactly pack its schedules to the rafters with Canadian TV, particularly since E4’s started nicking Canadian shows as well.

So FX has cunningly decided, just as BBC4 is cutting back on its acquisition budgets and focusing on Scandinavian shows, to capitalise on one of that channel’s other innovations and look close to home for its shows. To France, in fact.

So not only has it been showing the two-part movie Mesrine, starring Vincent Cassel as the eponymous gangster, it’s also acquired Spiral/Engrenages‘s sibling show at Canal+ Braquo, a dark policier about a cop with broad definitions of legality and what he’s allowed to do.

The question is – has FX found the new The Killing or is it about to discover what those of us who have watched French TV for some time now have found: that French TV drama, by and large, sucks?

Here’s a trailer.

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Sitting Tennant

Friday’s Sitting Tennant (week 40, 2011)

4 November 2011 Rob Buckley Post a comment

Erin C's final Sitting Tennant

Hebbie and Sister Chastity's Sitting Tennant

Sister Chastity and Hebbie's Sitting Tennant

Okay, my friends. Sit down. I feel that’s appropriate.

Now, I don’t want you to cry or to be sad, but a sad day has come upon us. Today is the day when Erin C’s stash of Sitting Tennants runs out. She’s been AWOL for over a year now, but she left behind so many that only now have they run.

So unless she returns or someone else steps into the breach, this will be the last week with three Tennants sitting. And with that bombshell, I’ll leave you and say ‘Happy Fireworks Night’ for tomorrow. If you do wear a Guy Fawkes mask, try not to be arrested for being a 99%-er.

Fingers crossed though, I might have a review of the first episode of French thriller Braquo for you soon – and don’t forget your chance to win a Blu-ray 3D player starts on Monday!

  1. Hebbie: 310
  2. Sister Chastity: 290
  3. Erin C: 150
  4. Rullsenberg: 55
  5. Janice: 20
  6. esgaril: 10
  7. theriverlady, Toby: 5

Don’t forget Tuesday’s caption competition!

Got a picture of David Tennant sitting, lying down or in some indeterminate state in between? Then leave a link to it below or email me and if it’s judged suitable and doesn’t obviously infringe copyright, it will appear in the “Sitting Tennant” gallery. Don’t forget to include your name in the filename so I don’t get mixed up about who sent it to me.

The best pic in the stash each week will appear on Tuesday and get ten points; the runners up will appear on Friday (one per person who sends one in) and get five points.

You can also enter the witty and amusing captions league table by commenting on Tuesday’s Sitting Tennant photo, the best caption getting 10 points, everyone who contributes getting five points.

Friday’s “mad piano” news

4 November 2011 Rob Buckley 2 Comments

Film

  • Garrett Hedlund to star in Akira
  • Trailer for Wanderlust with Jennifer Aniston and Paul Rudd
  • Trailer for Safe House with Denzel Washington and Ryan Reynolds
  • Andy Serkis signs up for Rise of the Apes sequel
  • Bond 23 to be called Skyfall

Theatre

British TV

US TV

US TV

Review: Grimm 1×1

3 November 2011 Rob Buckley 5 Comments

Grimm on NBC

In the US: Fridays, 9/8c, NBC
In the UK: Not yet acquired

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before. Fairy tales are really real. They’re part of our world. Now a non-fairy tale character has found out and is having to deal with this strange circumstance.

Yep, it’s Once Upon A Time, over on ABC. But it’s also Grimm on NBC.

Now, stop me if you’ve heard this one before, too. “Into each generation a Slayer is born. One in all the world, a Chosen One. One born with the strength and skill to fight the vampires, to stop the spread of their evil and the swell of their numbers.”

Yes, that’s Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Except if you cross out ‘Slayer’ and replace it with ‘Grimm’ and cross out vampires and replace it with ‘fairy tale monsters’, you’ve got Grimm on NBC.

So already, Grimm is not looking too hot on the old originality front. Add in the fact that the cop gets all his arcane knowledge from books given to him by a librarian, that he has help from a reformed creature of the night and that it doesn’t take itself too seriously, and you’d wonder when the first of the copyright suits would arrive – if it weren’t for the fact that Jim Kouf (Angel) and David Greenwalt (Buffy and Angel) are the exec producers.

Yet, despite all these inauspicious omens, Grimm isn’t half bad – and it’s certainly better than Once Upon A Time. Here’s an incredibly spoilery trailer – with the wrong music. The Eurythmics’ ‘Sweet Dreams’ was used in the actual episode.

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