28 February 2013

Justified S04E08

Whatever I last said about this season, I clearly wasn't passionate enough.

A cop show where the hero's father is a consistently mean sumbitch, where the recently-engaged couple of the show's world are its ambitious and charming crime-lord and -lady, and a well-meaning ex-army buddy with a habit lays the tracks for his own trainwreck and might just be a career-turner for Ron Eldard.  God. Damn.

If you aren't already watching this show, I need you to go stand in the corner there while I count to ten and calm the heck down.

19 February 2013

The Walking Dead S03E10

Been a Michael Rooker fan since Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer, and through all the cardboardy, cartoony redneck sicko characters he's portrayed in the last couple of decades, there's always been something worth watching about him, something goddamned human.

Not so in this season where his Merle Dixon is a masterpiece of tissue-thin characterisation with a flaming neon sign above his head screaming I'm a plot instigator, and I'm like, Are you fuckin' shitting me?

Update:  Yeah, by ep's end, there's hope.  But I can't help but think of that wonderful phrase, With hope in one hand and shit in the other, which do you think'll fill up first?

12 February 2013

Secret State (Channel 4, 2012)

Disclosure:  I've had a crush on Gabriel Byrne for as long as I can remember.  Part of it is the Irish brogue.  Another part is that, no matter how shitty the material, he's been believable and watchable every time.

In Secret State, Byrne plays a national leader reluctant to do battle, but when required to do so, does so with heart and conviction.  Charles Dance is in it, too, in a nice role.  I don't want to say any more - I enjoyed this mini-series immensely, so much I might even watch it again.  So what if it was a little hard to believe Byrne's character being involved in the shenanigans of the series' plot, or that the dialogue was sometimes a bit on-the-nose, or that the cast of characters was so big as to make me spend crucial seconds at the head of some scenes trying to figure out who the hell was talking.

If you're a fan of Dave, you enjoyed the class of Bletchley Circle, and you fancy yourself a closet political pundit, Secret State is highly recommended.

02 February 2013

Transporter: The Series S01E01-02

Sure the pilot had to have everything the films have but on a smaller per-minute budget, and it didn't disappoint.  ("Not disappointing" is possible when expectations are "this is going to be awful".)

It's not the kind of show for me.

Which raises the question of why I'm bothering to watch the second ep as I type this.  It's not the car chases - and in the ep, there's an ATV chase so far.  It's not the wooden acting.  Not the script which seems to have been written by the people who gave us The Sweeney (breasts, industrial-stylised simulated sex, and the f-word in every second sentence).

I know:  it's the guns.  There're so many of them.  And they're used so often.

... Aaaannd no.  The expository-bogged second and third acts have given me a headache.

Goodbye Frank.

The Following (Fox, 2013-)

There's been buzz about this show - I think I even bought into it last year - that the pilot deserves.  It's got good acting from Kevin Bacon and Natalie Zea (and a lot of hamming from James Purefoy and some serious character underdevelopment for Jeananne Goossen), a decent script from Kevin Williamson, and execution that is stylish, pacey with occasional flourishes to remind what B material this is.

Half way through the ep, I realised how self-referencing it is, and by the time the engine of the series is revealed, I think, Fuck this - shoot the fucker and stop this shit right the fuck now.

No one listens to me, of course.  There's fourteen more episodes of this rubbish.

But at least I've seen what the buzz is about.

01 February 2013

Justified S04E03-04

It took a couple of eps - slow story-, character- and scene-setting stuff - and then ep 03 comes along and taps you with a police baton, and then ep 04 jolts you to the heart with the Story of Ellen May.

The care the writers take with the characters, taking them on arcs that are unlikely and unpredictable but totally believable, shines through with their female characters - and encapsulated by this season's time with Abby Miller's whore-with-a-heart-of-gold (but otherwise entertainingly dim) Ellen May.  She means well.  She's not trying to make trouble.  She's just a little girl lost.

All of the above sound like I'm making excuses for a character I have the hots for.  (Besides not being my type) Ellen May is all of the above, and Miller's portrayal captures perfectly an innocence that's not quite been lost or buried, and the Story of Ellen May is that much more gripping for it.

After a third season that just couldn't compare with its preceding cuticle-gnawing sophomore season, season four might be where the makers of Justified elevate the show to all-time greatness.