Luther S01

Having seen that S02 is screening of this series, let me just say that I watched the pilot of this last year, thought I should give it another ep because I'd just come down from a second viewing of The Wire series (Stringer Bell, RIP, bro), watched the second ep, began to hate it, and didn't finish the third ep because it was bloody STUPID.

Come ON, bitch!

... And yet here we are with S02.

Case Histories S01

Eps 01-02 were brilliant. They captured the flavour of the book very
well. And it was enjoyed by both the Atkinson fan and the non-reader of
the house.
Eps 03-04 were merely average TV, a disappointment after the complex,
multi-threaded storytelling of the first two eps. Mediocre.
Eps 05-06 were better than the middle story of this mini-series, but not
as good - or as exquisitely complicated - as the first story. A bit too
simplified for even the non-reader of the series, it bookended the
introductory pilot really well, ending the series on a very nice note.
Next season, please.

Nurse Jackie S03E12

Has "Nurse Jackie" lost its puff?
Where the first season left us hanging with the impending collision of
her hospital and family lives, and the second season left us gawping at
her total denial about her addiction, the third season moves along like
a hospital-druggie "The Big Clock" only to turn into... 'It's not you -
it's me.'
Mmm. After the groaning disaster of "The Shadow Line" and the
frustrating end to "The Killing", this "Nurse Jackie" season finale may
be awfully low key but at least it was reasonably satisfying.

The Killing S01E13

Nine eps of "Wow this SO FUCKING GOOD."

A penultimate ep of "Nah. No wayyy. Surely it's not heading for where
it looks like it's heading."

And a season finale where I'm all prepped to forgive the last ep and go
"Ah-HAH!" as All Is Revealed. But no: as the credits rolled, it was "Huh."

Unknown (Jaume Collet-Sera/Oliver Butcher & Stephen Cornwell; 2011)

"Taken" was an unexpected and guilty pleasure in 2008, so I was looking forward to the latest not-quite-Bourne-and-not-quite-Transporter genre addition.

It was fun.  It owed a lot more to the Bourne trilogy than I expected but it was fun, and a nice riff on the is-it-me-or-am-I-going-crazy thriller-adventure film.

For a guy approaching the big six-oh, Neeson is doing the business as an action hero, and I look forward to the next one.

Might have to take that back:  I'd assumed "Unknown" was a Luc Besson-produced film like "Taken".

The Shadow Line S01E07

In which the word-count of 'shadow' eclipses that of 'line' in the preceding two eps.

In which the Rule of the Circle of Life is enforced in excruciating detail, right down to "And ye shall end your story in same manner as ye began it, because such is the Rule of the Circle of Life".

In which this blogger is glad to have VLC with which to resize the image in order to do other things like check emails, read blogs and avoid proper work.

Case Histories (BBC, 2011-)

JASON ISAACS has played some nicely hateful characters in the past - "The Patriot" and "The Green Zone", anyone? - and I was a little curious to see him in the lead role in this adaptation of Kate Atkinson's books.  The reviews had me expecting another twee UK mystery series along the lines of "Miss Marple" and "Midsomer Murders".

I was happily disappointed.

Watched the first couple of eps in one night.  Looking forward to the next pair of eps that make up "One Good Turn".

The Killing S01E12

From ep three I was saying "The Ebert Law of Economy of Characters requires that someone we've seen by now is The Killer."

But like some damned Agatha Christie mystery, all the characters I liked for the murder was cleared and then I said, "We're running out of characters with which to satisfy the Law of Economy of Characters."

And then there was Adela.  And then the investigation opened up.  And I said, "Okay.  Maybe it was someone totally unrelated, someone we won't have seen yet, and that's okay because that's how it goes in real life, and this has been a damned fine fucking show, so good that if it is some stranger, I will understand because that's HOW IT IS and I shall not whinge because not all good drama is required to hew to the Law of Economy of Characters."

And now...  And now it might be the show is hewing that line.

I hope not.  I'd UNDERSTAND.

But I might whinge, though.

The Shadow Line S01E06

I was really enjoying this. The stylistic flourishes, I could forgive.
Things were HAPPENING. The mystery was DEEPENING. The suspense was
just FRIGHTFUL.

And then ep five had all this dialogue that was all so... faux John Le
Carre or something.

And this episode. Each exchange of dialogue Heavy with Meaning. How
many times can the word 'line' be said by any number of characters, both
related and unrelated, in five minutes? The ambush in the house with a
child present - WHO SAW THAT COMING? The scenes Pregnant with Portent.
And the ep ending like some bloody "Halloween" instalment.

What a shame. A real shame.

Human Target (Fox, 2010-2011)

The Corrupted Love Interest from "Fringe" as... THE HUMAN TARGET.

Mm... watched the pilot, kept thinking of De Palma's "Mission:
Impossible", saw the creepy guy from "Watchmen" and... PASSED.

City Island (Raymond De Felitta, 2009)

As far as I'm concerned, Andy Garcia's career height was "The
Untouchables". I'm sure he's got talent aplenty, what with "When a Man
Loves a Woman", "Jennifer Eight" and "The Godfather III", films that I
know I have seen but have no actual recollection of. Yes, I know each
film's story, but only because I remember the blurb on the VHS/DVD case.

So last night, when it was a toss up between "The Social Network" and
"City Island", I went indy, and I was pleasantly... it was a pleasant
way to while away an evening. Julianna Margulies was a pleasant
surprise. The morbidly obese women were a pleasant fuck-you to our
usual fare of stick figure screen women. And Mr Garcia was a pleasant
lead, in a thoroughly pleasant film, yes, a little mawkish - twee, even,
although this is a yankee indy - so in the event you're looking for
something undemanding, yet with some nice little twists on your
expectations, try "City Island".

The Winslow Boy (David Mamet, 1999)

A blast from the past chosen by the Better Half off the hard-drive
and... I nodded off a couple of times.

I really enjoyed it the first time around a decade or so back, and
thought I'd revisit it.

Time and a little wisdom can be a terrible thing.

Hanna (Joe Wright/Seth Lochhead, 2011)

It's a chase movie! It's a heroine's journey of discovery. It's an
action film! It's about being true to yourself. It's got guns and
chases --

-- OH FOR FUCK'S SAKE.

Paradox (BBC, 2009)

(Scraping the barrel here, both chronologically and... quality-wise.)

Ordinary coppers stumble onto potential wormhole courtesy of a
top-ultra-secret satellite thingamie under the supervision of steamy
looking but otherwise unintelligible Scots scientist - and the wormhole
shows an impending disaster!

Well, not ALL of it!

But just enough clues to keep us guessing over the course of an hour!

... A rubbish "Lost"-inspired, "X-Files"/"Fringe"-wannabe that mistakes
loud music for suspense and shouted dialogue for characterisation.

Upstairs, Downstairs (BBC, 2010)

A little weird writing about "Upstairs, Downstairs" having been spoiled
just a little by the shenanigans at "Downton Abbey".

I never watched the original run of this show - catching the odd few
seconds whilst channel-surfing these past couple of decades ("Hey that's
George from 'The Professionals' - look at him all hoity-toity") - so
this was a bit of an experiment.

... Nope, hard to take this show seriously in retrospect when there's
bloody "Downton Abbey" only months away.

Kidnap & Ransom (ITV, 2011)

Am I the only one on this planet who didn't give two shits for the
tawdry Rusty/Meg off-set affair and enjoyed "Proof of Life" for the
action thriller that it is? I've read a bit about the kidnap and ransom
(K&R) industry, so it was reasonably intelligent and enjoyable.

Everything this three-part drama was NOT.

Detroit 187 (ABC, 2010-2011)

I like Michael Imperioli. He didn't really stand out for me when Joe
Pesci was making him dance in "Goodfellas". I knew he came into his own
in "Sopranos" - hey, I've got the set, just haven't got around to seeing
it, there's so much new stuff, so THERE. He filled in real nicely for
the black cop in "Law & Order".

And now, with this show, it felt like I was watching an eagle amidst a
bunch of turkeys. Imperioli struggling as a Cop With A History, an
enigma amongst his colleagues. Speaking of colleagues, there was the
"L&O"-wannabe lieutenant, the want-to-please-puppy partner, the hunky
detective, the sexy detective zzzzz....

Sad is the word that comes to mind.

Maybe Imperioli can put this show down to character building, just like
the cast of "The Unusuals" can as they romp their way to successful careers.

Blue Bloods (CBS, 2010-)

I've been a fan of Donnie Wahlberg since he followed his shocking turn
in "The Sixth Sense" with "Band of Brothers" and "Boomtown". This NKOTB
could fucking ACT.

The thought of Tom Selleck in a comeback to television was more one of
morbid interest than actual interest. Bridget "The Sum of All Fears"
Moynahan as a crusading DA. Jennifer oh-how-I've-missed-you-since-"Spin
City" Esposito as a cop.

How... progressive.

How BORING.

The Chicago Code (Fox, 2011)

After the gloriously pungent "The Shield", I looked forward to creator Shawn Ryan's next show, "The Unit". Possibly spoilt by too much "Traffic" and "Syriana", I never really clicked with this early
21st-century show that unintentionally and repeatedly reminded me of"The A Team".

And now "The Chicago Code" with 'Ooh, Jennifer Beals as police commissioner!' and 'Ooh, that guy from "Brotherhood" as a rough-and-tumble detective!' and 'Ooh, Delroy Lindo as a snaky
politician! and -

- whatEVER.

It wasn't until I googled the cast list that the show I was thinking of
when I began this post was actually "Blue Bloods".

Outcasts (BBC, 2011)

An underwhelming pilot notable for a distinct lack of people, and an
uninteresting and narrow choice of ensemble characters.

It's... "Battlestar: Galactica" but with British accents, and much fewer
actors, and unspoken subtext that is so boring you wish it was spoken
just so you can push a screwdriver through one of your eyesockets or
something.

Am I being too harsh? Possibly. Ep two sits on a harddrive, unwatched.
I should give it a chance. But two, three, four months on, do I
really give a shit?

Mr Sunshine (ABC, 2011)

I didn't watch "Friends". I have a soft spot for "Fools Rush In". But
all in all, I'm no great Matthew Perry fan. Hearing that Perry is in
stuff like "The West Wing" or "The Whole Nine Yards" is a bit like
having a carbuncle where the feeling is usually worse than the actual
sight of it - you brace yourself, but he's an amiable screen presence in
the end.

So as for the lately cancelled "Mr Sunshine", I lasted two eps and
bailed. Although it had Andrea Anders of the long, lamented "Better Off
Ted" in the show as well, her few dazzling minutes of screen time per pe
made the remaining runtime tedious.

Sorry, Mr Perry. I'd LIKE to like your stuff but unfortunately, all I
see are shades of Chandler and I DIDN'T EVEN WATCH THAT FUCKING SHOW.

Alphas (Syfy, 2011)

You see the spiel and read it: "Action packed blah blah people with
special blah blah superhuman blah blah." Until your eye catches the
name David Straithairn as being in the show.

DAVID MOTHERFUCKING STRAITHAIRN.

Gimme some sugar.