January 30th, 2009 admin
Battlestar Galactica - Season Four
Starring: Edward James Olmos, Mary McDonnell, Katee Sackhoff, Jamie Bamber, James Callis, Tricia Helfer, Grace Park, Michael Hogan, Aaron Douglas, Tahmoh Penikett, Michael Trucco, Alessandro Juliani
Created By: Ronald D. Moore
Original Air Date: 01/16/2009 -
Network: Sci-Fi Channel
To someone who has never watched this show, now entering its fourth and final season, it must seem like a curious beast indeed. Just how did a remake of a camp seventies show about killer robots that airs on a network as unfashionably geeky as the Sci-Fi channel become arguably the finest hours entertainment on the tube? Even the name – Battlestar Galactica – it sounds more like a nickname a nerd gives his Honda civic than a TV show worthy of our time. So what gives? Well the answer is deceptively simple – it’s not really about killer robots at all.
Yes, the show’s premise is a battered and besieged fleet of ships safeguarding the last remnants of humanity from total destruction at the hands of the Cylons (man made robotic creatures that rebelled and damn near wiped us out), but that’s just a drop in a vast thematic ocean. With that as a jumping off point, the producers have spent the last fours years fashioning the lost and helpless 40,000 odd survivors into a microcosm of the human social dynamic.
Like rats trapped together, marooned in deep space aboard dilapidated freighters and glorified submarines, the people of twelve colonies cling steadfastly to a centuries old religious prophecy that a dying leader will lead them to a distant planet known as Earth. On the way the show explores the role of government, the role of religion, the role of religion within the government and peppers it all with heady meditations on the nature of mortality.
Click here to read the full review at Uinterview.com.
Posted in American Television, Reviews | No Comments »
January 28th, 2009 admin
Scrubs – Season Eight
Starring: Zach Braff, Donald Faison, Sarah Chalke, John C. McGinley, Judy Reyes, Ken Jenkins, Neil Flynn
Creator: Bill Lawrence
Air Date: 01/06/2009 -
Network: ABC
Yet another casualty of that damn writer’s strike, season seven of TV’s most anarchic, offbeat and wildly inventive sitcom was really hacked off at the knees after just eleven episodes. Series creator Bill Lawrence bravely resisted pressure from NBC to wrap the show up then and there with some half-assed forced finale, which saw the network then threaten to dump season eight (this season) straight to DVD. Several cheese and cracker platters later a deal was struck to see the show out on sister network ABC with a new format of back-to-back episodes each week.
After this long recycling what is essentially the same premise each season (overworked, overwhelmed people find ways to come together), Scrubs really has no right to still be this funny, and it’s a testament to the quality of the ensemble that it maintains its appeal. The unique blend of surrealism and slapstick, the marrying of gut-wrenching laughter with tender moments of melancholy, make this still one of the smartest shows around.
Click here to read the full review at Uinterview.com.
Posted in American Television, Reviews | No Comments »
January 27th, 2009 admin
Check out what’s new in theaters with my weekly column at IFC.com.
Posted in Opening This Week | No Comments »
January 27th, 2009 admin
24 - Season Seven
Starring: Kiefer Sutherland, Mary Lynne Rajskub, Cherry Jones, Colm Feore, James Morrison, Carlos Bernard, Annie Wersching, Hakeem Kae-Kazim
Creator: Joel Surnow
Air Date: 11/01/2009 -
Network: FOX
After the writer’s strike imposed hiatus of 24 (Fox, Mondays, 9pm) forced Kiefer Sutherland to spend last spring season on the back nine, Jack is back! Yes, TV’s one-man anti-terrorist wrecking crew once again looks set to punch, kick and torture his way through another perilous day in the name of whatever-it-takes national security.
Following the critical panning and audience backlash against season six (quite right too. Poor guys, very poor) the producers have wrung in the changes big time. Gone is CTU and hopefully with it the now woefully predictable midway plot twist whereby a mole compromises the operation from the inside every single season. A car missing all four doors with the keys in the ignition is more secure than that place. Also gone are the plotting, scheming, radical Muslims who let’s be honest were getting just a little bit tired.
Click here to read the full review at Uinterview.com.
Posted in American Television, Reviews | No Comments »
January 24th, 2009 admin
The month of January really invites this discussion. January is a cinematic graveyard, a dumping ground where the unwanted and unworthy get tossed out there while prestige films get released amidst the Oscar buzz (this week sees the release of a film where a bloodthirsty creature from another world crash lands in the time of the Vikings and fights Jesus – seriously).
So who exactly is going to win then? We’ll make our predictions and then please feel free to make yours. We’ll go ahead and limit it to the “major” categories, but if you’re one of those people who will likely spend post-ceremony twilight hours stumbling drunk and naked through the streets, barking at strangers and parking meters that Wanted was robbed for best sound mixing, then feel free to add a category.
Read More…
Posted in Blog | 2 Comments »
January 21st, 2009 admin
Starring: Jared Padalecki, Jensen Ackles, Jeffery Dean Morgan, Samantha Smith, Nicki Aycox
Creator: Brad Buckner & Eugenie Ross-Lemming
Original Air Date: 09/13/2005-05/04/2006
Network: WB
Those still pining for the loss of Buffy, Angel and the glory days of The X-Files could do a lot worse than embracing this stylish teen horror saga to satiate their cravings. Playing like a straight laced Buffy, Supernatiral tells the tragic story of the Winchester family, a father and his two sons dedicated to tracking and hunting the forces of darkness that killed their mother. Trained as skilled warriors Sam and Dean track their missing father and slay all manner of ghosts and goblins along the way
While the idea of two good looking teen brothers dissecting their fractured relationship and familial guilt while driving cross country in search of an unseen father figure might seem a little bit teen soap opera here, some industry veterans, notably X-Files’ Kim Dickens, ensure that this is some decently adult fair. Though there is nothing particularly groundbreaking here – sparks of ironic humor that could be from the Whedonverse, exposition laced driving sequences that hark back to the travels of Mulder and Scully – it shows surprising verve and a deceptive amount of darkness.
Read More…
Posted in American Television, Reviews | No Comments »
January 20th, 2009 admin
Check out what’s new in theaters with my weekly column at IFC.com.
Posted in Opening This Week | No Comments »
January 20th, 2009 admin
2008
Starring: Dev Patel, Anil Kapoor, Freida Pinto, Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail, Ayush Mahesh Khedekar, Irrfan Khan
Director: Danny Boyle
Runtime: 120 Minutes
Distributor: Fox Searchlight
Rating: R
Ever since Danny Boyle burst onto the big scene with his raucous, disgustingly grubby tale of Edinburgh street life the world has been waiting for a truly worthy follow up. His work since then has been mostly solid, but while he has done some amazingly fresh work in genres thought to be played out (28 Days Later, Sunshine) he has never really delivered on that initial promise of vibrant, visceral, dirty, sweaty filmmaking until now.
Based on Indian author Vikas Swarup’s bestselling page turner Q&A about an orphan boy from the streets of Mumbai who wins big on India’s version of Who Wants to be a Millionaire and then is accused of cheating, there is something positively Dickensian about this tale of a spirited guttersnipe under the boot of the class system. And Boyle does indeed love his urchins, from Mark Renton to The Beach dweller Richard, Boyle has a fascination with societal disconnect and the freewheeling spirits and the stories that can be found on the other side of the crack they’ve slipped through.
Read More…
Posted in Drama, Feature Films, Reviews | No Comments »
January 14th, 2009 admin
Ask any American what they know about British television and chances are they will tell that they love The Office and Extras with that guy who does the embarrassing comedy stuff. Beyond that they probably know of nothing since Monty Python. Yes, The Office was a groundbreaking show in terms of bringing that kind of humor to the mainstream, but it had been doing the rounds a good long time. British television, especially comedy extends so much further than some fat bloke from Reading, we feel it is our duty to alter you to some of the finest imports the 51st state has to offer, and none of them have anything to do with Ricky Gervais.
The League of Gentlemen
Perhaps the darkest and most delectable offering on the list this horror theme sitcom is as funny as it is strange. Set in the sleepy northern town of Royston Vasey, League is a ham horror send up of “it’s grim up north cliché,” featuring an ensemble cast of freaks and weirdoes. There is Tubbs and Edward, proprietors of the local shop and fearful of a new road which would bring those “not local” into their midst, just ask the guy they set on fire. More optimistic are Geoff, Mike and Brian, three local lads who are best friends. Although Geoff hates Mike - almost as much as he hates Brian. Into this little berg comes Benjamin, on a hiking holiday with no idea what awaits him. Staying with his aunt and uncle he finds no respite from the tows weirdness, with frequent lectures on self-abuse. After all, “semen is such a persistent stain.”
Availability: Blockbuster, Netflix, Amazon
Read More…
Posted in Features | 2 Comments »
January 12th, 2009 admin
Check out what’s new in theaters with my weekly column at IFC.com.
Posted in Opening This Week | No Comments »
