Burn Notice

UK TV

What have you been watching this week (w/e July 1)?

1 July 2011 Rob Buckley 4 Comments

Time for “What have you been watching this week?”, my chance to tell you what I’ve been watching this week and your chance to recommend things to everyone else (and me) in case we’ve missed them.

My usual recommendations for maximum viewing pleasure this week: The Apprentice, The Apprentice: You’ve Been Fired, Burn Notice, Come Dine With Me, The Daily Show and Top Gear. Watch them (and keep an eye on The Stage‘s TV Today Square Eyes feature as well) or you’ll be missing out on the good stuff. Still in the viewing pile: the first episode of Necessary Roughness (just in case lovely wife wants to watch it for Marc Blucas from Buffy), the return of Royal Pains, the second episode of Suits, the first episode of State of Georgia (although that’s ABC Family so I’ll probably skip it),

Now to the irregulars and new things, as well as a few thoughts on some of those regulars:

  • Arrested Development: Everyone raves about it, so I thought I’d give it a try and watch the pilot. Does it, erm, get any better and/or funny?
  • Burn Notice: My gods, they have actually changed the formula. Okay, still a little bit like the old show, but it’s different. It’s actually different – and I like it. Well done exec producers!
  • Combat Hospital: A slightly inept, international co-production medical drama whose two distinguishing features are that they’ve got Canadians, Americans and Brits all actually being Canadians, Americans and Brits; and it’s set in a war zone. Despite having Elias Koteas and Deborah Kara Unger in the cast, it’s instantly snooze-worthy, without a hard edge even in its set of surgical tools.
  • Top Gear: Better than the last series, but definitely lacking the pizzazz of previous series.
  • True Blood: I haven’t watched this since episode 7 of the first series and although things have clearly moved on, my, what a silly show it is. Good cast, good effects, interesting characters, but what silly, silly plots. Good to see Southland‘s Kevin Alejandro doing well for himself and Alex Breckenridge being all librariany, but this would ordinarily be too ridiculous, even for me.

And in this week’s list of movies:

  • 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer: Dreadful. Jessica Alba doesn’t even look human in it.
  • Blades of Glory: A severely overlooked Will Ferrell comedy about two male figure skaters who end up as pairs. Very silly and Will Arnett and Amy Poehler make great villains. Definitely up there with the likes of Dodgeball.
  • Bridesmaids: About 50% funny, 50% laughter-free. Some very funny moments, and good to see Melissa McCarthy of Mike & Molly getting a decent role for a change, but could have been a lot better. And some very weird casting going on – Chris O’Dowd of The IT Crowd as a love interest and Matt Lucas as Kristen Wiig’s flatmate? Weird. But Jon Hamm was great. Strange how he only plays non-Don Draper roles when he’s not doing Mad Men, rather than sticking to the “handsome manly man” roles.
  • Where The Wild Things Are: Absolutely not what I was expecting. A quite harrowing tale of childhood in which the sub-text is virtually text, but all done through giant beasts. Typical Spike Jonze, but it’ll leave you drained by the end.

But what have you been watching?

“What have you been watching 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 this week. 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?

US TV

Review: Suits 1×1

27 June 2011 Rob Buckley 33 Comments

Suits on USA

In the US: Thursdays, 10/9c, USA Network

“Characters welcome.” That’s the USA Network’s ostensible motto. But it has a secret one, too – its true motto: “Fluffy characters welcome.”

White Collar? Fluffy. Psych? Fluffy. In Plain Sight, Fairly Legal, Covert Affairs, Royal Pains. Fluffy. Everyone’s essentially nice. Even Burn Notice has Michael’s mum and a lost innocent in need of help every week.

So it’s something of a relief and surprise to find that USA’s new lawyer drama, Suits – I know, I know, like we need another drama about lawyers – is only a little bit fluffy. Because pretty much everyone in Suits is a bastard. Or a thief.

In it, Mike Ross, a college drop-out finds himself in a drug-deal gone wrong. He runs into a job interview for a law firm that only hires Harvard graduates, but because the guy running it, Harvey Specter, is a total dick – and because Ross has a photographic memory that has already allowed him to pass the bar without going to law school – Specter hires him. All they have to do now is teach Ross the difference between the law you find in books and evil, amoral practical law, while keeping the fact that Ross isn’t a Harvard graduate from everyone else in the firm. Oh, and work out what to do with Ross’s briefcase full of drugs.

Here’s a trailer.

Continue reading “Review: Suits 1×1”

News

Monday’s “but which is canon?” news

27 June 2011 Rob Buckley Post a comment

John Cusack in The Raven

Doctor Who

  • Torchwood to have US extras that UK won’t see and vice versa

Film

US TV

US TV

What have you been watching this week (w/e June 24)?

24 June 2011 Rob Buckley 11 Comments

Time for “What have you been watching this week?”, my chance to tell you what I’ve been watching this week and your chance to recommend things to everyone else (and me) in case we’ve missed them.

My usual recommendations for maximum viewing pleasure this week: The Apprentice, The Apprentice: You’ve Been Fired, Burn Notice and Come Dine With Me. Watch them (and keep an eye on The Stage‘s TV Today Square Eyes feature as well) or you’ll be missing out on the good stuff.

Now to the irregulars and new things, as well as a few thoughts on some of those regulars:

  • Burn Notice: Oh my God. There’s actually a possibility the Burn Notice formula is going to change. Rather a good first episode, with the format for the series left up in the air at the end. But there are enough clues laid down by the end of the episode that, yes, it’s going to become exactly the same show again next episode.
  • Lead Balloon: Nope. Still not funny.
  • The Protector: Much as I love Ally Walker – Profiler, Universal Soldier, Southland – this is a very tedious bit of typical Lifetime drama: female-oriented therefore (apparently) rather than actually have a coherent crime story for police detective Walker to investigate, we spend most of the episode with Walker helping neighbours with their garden gnome thefts, her boss with his Thai bride, etc. Dire. And I actually think her black female partner qualifies as a race crime.
  • The Shadow Line: was of course completely ludicrous, right to the end. But we were expecting that. Beautifully made, acted, etc – just a shame that the story and the dialogue were so silly. But I’ll never look at Stephen Rea the same way again.

And in this week’s list of movies:

  • Green Lantern: a pretty rubbish first half-hour or so, but it finally kicks into gear after that and isn’t half bad (although ultimately, it’s still very silly, but that’s the source material for you). Blake Lively is woefully under-used (all character set-up for the sequel I suspect). Probably a little more fun but not as good as X-Men: First Class and not as fun or as good as Thor 3D.
  • Speed: Rewatched this for the first time in 27 or so years, which was kind of a coming home for me since it was the first film I ever reviewed professionally (Cambridge Film Festival Daily if you want to know). Still as ludicrous as it was the first time, when I described as the first film made specifically with stupid people in mind, but I have to say Keanu Reeves has actually got better as an actor since…
  • The Lake House: which is the film that reunited him and Sandra Bullock in 2006. Two people living in the same house but separated two years in time find they can send letters to one another using the postbox. Really rather lovely in a lot of ways although you have to disregard the obvious flaw: why don’t they use this miracle to win the lottery?
  • Watchmen: incredible to watch, but ultimately empty and I have to say that I think the new ending is better than the original’s. Some fun in-jokes and some surprising ultra-violence, too.

But what have you been watching?

“What have you been watching 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 this week. 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?