Showing posts with label TV. Show all posts
Showing posts with label TV. Show all posts

Thursday, February 22, 2018

Brass Eye (1997) TV series

Creator: Christopher Morris

Directors: Michael Cumming, Tristram Shapeero

Writers: Christopher Morris, Arthur Mathews, Graham Linehan, Peter Baynham

Composers: Christopher Morris, Jonathan Whitehead, Adrian Sutton

Starring: Christopher Morris, Mark Heap, Kevin Eldon, Doon Mackichan, David Cann, Barbara Durkin, Amelia Bullmore, Albert Willing, Gina McKee, Julia Davis, Simon Pegg, Britt Ekland, PHil Collins, Michael Winner

More info: IMDb

Plot: Controversial spoof of current affairs television, and the role of celebrity in the UK.



My rating: 9/10

Will I watch it again?  YESSSSSS!!!

If you're inclined, watch the above episode and laugh your ass off.  I'll warn you, though, it's the last and best episode so it's downhill from there.  The show debuted and ran for six episodes in 1997 and then they came back in 2001 for the one-off Paedogeddon episode.  Me being a fan of British comedy since I was a kid in the 70s, I ate this shit right up and went for seconds and thirds.  The satire is spot on and it's a fast paced half hour show with an enormous amount of gags.  Not all of them work but it doesn't matter because the shit is flying so fast that there's bound to be a big laugh in a few seconds.  It's purposefully overproduced from the busy graphics to the loud, bombastic, urgent music.  The humor is absurd and offensive and it's right up my alley.   I'm sure most people will find the pedophile episode horrifying but for me it's pure comedy gold.  This was the show that woke me up to Christopher Morris and wanting to see absolutely everything he's done.  This guy's a fucking comedy genius who isn't afraid to "go there".

Tuesday, January 23, 2018

Clone High (2002) TV series

Creators: Bill Lawrence, Phil Lord, Christopher Miller

Composers: Jamie Dunlap, Scott Nickoley

Starring: Will Forte, Phil Lord, Michael McDonald, Christa Miller, Christopher Miller, Nicole Sullivan, Donald Faison, Neil Flynn, Andy Dick, Murray Miller

More info: IMDb

Plot: The greatest minds of the world have been cloned, and are now attending high school together.



My rating: 6.5/10

Will I watch it again?  No.

I caught bits and pieces of this when it originally aired and I always meant to watch the short lived series from star to finish.  Now that I've done it I can move on with my life.  The concept is brilliant but the execution is spotty.  The voice actors are great and I dig many of the characters.  Even though they occasionally bring in a famous historical figure, they don't last long and they're often just there for a quick laugh and move on.  Mining the endless possibilities would have been nice.  Gandhi is my favorite.  He's hilarious.  Lincoln, not so much.  He was the exact opposite of Gandhi.  Where Gandhi was a wild card and fully of zest, Lincoln was the angsty teenager who had one thing on his mind and that's being in love with Cleopatra.  He was very predictable.  Most of the characters were predictable but not Gandhi.  I rarely laughed at anything relating to Principal Scudworth and all of his B-stories.  That was a waste.  The last of the thirteen episodes ends as if it might but won't return.  I'd love to rate this higher but even though there are some incredibly funny bits throughout the thirteen episodes, there's also a lot more that's not funny but rather loud and obnoxious in the attempt at getting a laugh.  It's hit and miss but when it hits, it's hysterical.

Thursday, January 18, 2018

Colditz (1972) TV series

Composer: Robert Farnon

Starring: David McCallum, Richard Heffer, Paul Chapman, Jack Hedley, Bernard Hepton, Hans Meyer, Christopher Neame, Robert Wagner, Edward Hardwicke, Anthony Valentine

More info: IMDb

Plot: This grim and claustrophobic drama chronicles the lives of the prisoners in Colditz Castle from the arrival of the first British prisoners after Dunkirk until the liberation of the castle by the Americans in 1945. Colditz was a "special" camp, designed by the Nazis to hold high-risk and politically important prisoners. Many of the series' plots are based on real events.



My rating: 9/10

Will I watch it again?  Yes.

Outstanding!  The first three or so episodes deal mostly with a few future residents in their escapes that led to their being sent to Colditz castle.  Once these introductions are dispensed with the rest of the episodes are nearly all spent at the prison camp.  Those first few episodes run rather slow but once most of the time was spent at the castle and hanging around these guys full time I liked it more and more.  It gets better as it goes and the second half was much more engaging and it's in some of these episodes you will find the best of the entire run.  Some of them had me quite emotional toward the end.  I'm fresh off of binging the show (being sick allows you to do nothing all day and feel good about it) and I can't say enough about it.  It's a show that takes the subject seriously and doesn't spoon feed the sugar.  Actions have consequences and people have to deal with them.

One thing I learned was that the POW camps were under the jurisdiction of the Luftwaffe and not the SS or Gestapo.  I'm sure I knew this at one point but had simply forgotten about it.  The Kommandant for most of the series (played by Hepton) is an honorable man.  Most of the Germans in the show are portrayed this way.  They're good men doing their duty, abiding by the law and the rules of the Geneva Convention.  The prisoners are treated fairly and with dignity.  I like the respect both sides had for each other.  It's when Major Mohn (Valentine) shows up as second in command when we have a villain to boo and hiss at.  He's a Nazi that couldn't care less about the Geneva Convention and does his best to make it difficult for the prisoners.  There is some fantastic storytelling in this show and anyone interested in this sort of thing needs to fast track this to the top of the list.  It's on YouTube in full. 

Monday, January 15, 2018

Stewart Lee's Comedy Vehicle (2009) TV series

Creator: Stewart Lee

Writers: Stewart Lee, Sean Gray

Starring: Stewart Lee, Christopher Morris

More info: IMDb

Plot: A sketch comedy show within Lee's stand-up comedy routine where each show has its own theme.



My rating: 8/10

Will I watch it again?  Yes.

Fuckin' A is this show funny.  From the first minute I was sold.  I'd never even heard of Lee, which is a shame as I'm a big fan of stand-up comedy, and I'm almost instantly hooked on this guy's delivery.  He's hilarious.  Not only are a lot of his stand-up bits on the show funny but the sketches in between them are also good.  I had a blast burning through the six episodes in season one.  Unfortunately that's all I had.  I was pleased to see that there are three more seasons with a total of 18 episodes.  Now all I need to do is find them.  It's so refreshing when I discover a new voice in comedy like this. 

Saturday, January 13, 2018

Men Behaving Badly (1992) TV series

Creator: Simon Nye

Writer: Simon Nye

Composer: ALan Lisk

Starring: Martin Clunes, Harry Enfield, Caroline Quentin, Leslie Ash, Neil Morrissey, Ian Lindsay, Valerie Minifie

More info: IMDb

Plot: Two early thirties best friends live together while having completely different personalities. While their girlfriends try to help them take on more responsibilities the boys seldom respond well and usually end up drinking together.



My rating: 7/10

Will I watch it again?  No.

What the hell?  I watched the first season and I liked it but then the first episode of season 2 has Gary (Clunes) looking for a new roommate and finding one in Tony (Morrissey).  After three or four episodes with the new guy I gave up.  Dermot (Enfield) in the first season was great.  I dug the chemistry between he and Gary much more than Gary and Tony.  Tony is OK but boy did I miss Enfield's presence after that first season.  It's not a great show but it is better than average.  I guess I should say it just went to average starting with season 2.  The actors were fine but the material wasn't up to snuff.  It's just a bummer that I enjoyed season 1 so much that I was willing to commit to the rest of the 7 seasons until it became just another a little above average show. 

Thursday, January 11, 2018

Chewin' the Fat (1999) TV series


Composer: Dave Murricane

Starring: Ford Kiernan, Greg Hemphill, Karen Dunbar, Paul Riley, Mark Cox, Julie Wilson Nimmo, Tom Urie, Gordon McCorkell

More info: IMDb

Plot: Scottish sketch show which first appeared on radio. Featuring such characters as dodgy decorators Bish and Bosh, Ballistic Bob, The Lonely Shopkeeper, The Foulmouthed Fishermen and The Man From Kilmacolm. Mostly filmed in Glasgow.



My rating: 6/10

Will I watch it again?  No.

I dig sketch comedy shows to a point.  Like any genre of entertainment there are good ones and bad ones.  The only requirement I have for this type is that it makes me laugh.  This one barely did that.  I wanted to like it.  Part of the trouble is the often thick Scottish accents that I sometimes had trouble understanding.  I didn't have the options of subtitles so I was screwed on that.  It's possible that had I understood entirely that I would've enjoyed it more.  Even though I grew up in America's Deep South, I've spent nearly forty years watching TV from Europe (mostly British) where the accents have a wide range as most any place would I suppose and I've acclimated to them.  I do have to put the subs on whenever Vicki Pollard shows up on LITTLE BRITAIN but that's a rarity.  Naturally, having not grown up in Scotland, a lot of the references lose their meaning but that's universal.  The actors did a very fine job and it's a well produced show.  I just barely laughed and that can only last for so long.  After watching 8 episodes (all of season 1 and the first 2 of season 2) I'd had enough.  

Tuesday, January 9, 2018

'Allo 'Allo! (1982) TV series

Creators: David Croft, Jeremy Llod

Starring: Gorden Kaye, Carmen Silvera, Vicki Michelle, Richard Marner, Kim Hartman, Guy Siner, Kirsten Cooke, Richard Gibson, Rose Hill, Arthur Bostrom, John D. Collins, Nicholas Frankau

More info: IMDb

In WW2 France, Rene Artois runs a small café where Resistance fighters, Gestapo men, German Army officers and escaped Allied POWs interact daily, ignorant of one another's true identity or presence, exasperating Rene.



My rating: 6.5/10

Will I watch it again?  No.

I'm a HUGE fan of a lot of the shows made by Croft & Lloyd and for at least a couple of decades I've been meaning to get around to this one.  It's regarded as a classic.  The show lasted for nine seasons so I had pretty high hopes for it.  I'm down with some WWII comedy (HOGAN'S HEROES was a childhood favorite) but this show didn't click for me.  I tried, too, and gave it a shot by watching the first season (7 episodes) but I barely laughed.  I can see why this was so popular but the laughs weren't there for me and that's important.  I suppose a lot of it is just too silly and everyone is essentially playing a caricature or a cartoon character.  That doesn't necessarily mean it's a recipe for disaster because I sometimes like that but it wasn't working for me on this one.  I think the first time I laughed was in the third episode when the chickens (who had eaten grain mixed with nitro glycerin) started exploding one by one behind a bush with feathers flying up into the air.  Unfortunately each subsequent episode had about a one laugh limit for me despite some otherwise mildly amusing moments.  I'm always looking for some great British TV comedy and it's unfortunate I didn't find that in this show.  The only other Croft & Lloyd show that didn't do it for me (and I also gave it a season before quitting) was IT AIN'T HALF HOT MUM (1974) which I watched twenty years ago.  I dug the premise and some of the characters but the laughs weren't there.

Monday, January 8, 2018

Archer (2009) TV series

Creator: Adam Reed

Directors: Adam Reed, Bryan Fordney

Writer: Adam Reed

Composers: J.C. Richardson, Michael Kohler, J.G. Thirlwell

Starring: H. Jon Benjamin, Judy Greer, Amber Nash, Chris Parnell, Aisha Tyler, Jessical Walter, Adam Reed, Lucky Yates

More info: IMDb

Tagline: Espionage never tasted so salty.

Plot: Covert black ops and espionage take a back seat to zany personalities and relationships between secret agents and drones.



My rating: 9/10

Will I watch it again? YES!!!

I was hooked on this show since the first episode aired.  The dialogue is faster than any show I know and it's funny as hell.  The voice talent is incredible.  It's outrageous and crass and that's part of the charm.  Every season was hilarious until season 7 when the gang moved to Los Angeles and that's when something drastic happened that shocked the shit out of me.  It wasn't funny.  I even gave it some time and started season 7 over and I still wasn't laughing.  I could probably count on both hands how many times I laughed for that ten episode run.  What the hell happened?  And season 8, while I appreciate the departure into something different, it was largely unfunny.  The end is near.  I read somewhere they were only doing a total of 9 or 10 seasons and that would end the series.  I hope it picks up.  I love this too much to want the quality to drip.  I don't care what they do or where the plot goes.  I just want the funny back.  Regardless, we'll always have the first six seasons. 

Saturday, January 6, 2018

Happy Valley (2014) TV series

Creator: Sally Wainwright

Writer: Sally Wainwright

Composer: Ben Foster

Starring: Sarah Lancashire, Siobhan Finneran, Shane Zaza, Charlie Murphy, James Norton, Rhys Connah, Ishia Bennison, Rick Warden, George Costigan, Karl Davies, Jill Baker, Kevin Doyle, Joe Armstrong

More info: IMDb

Plot: Catherine Cawood is the sergeant on duty when flustered and nervous accountant Kevin Weatherill comes into her West Yorkshire station to report a crime.



My rating: 8/10

Will I watch it again?  Yes.

Led by the wonderful Sarah Lancashire, this UK crime drama hits hard on the crime and the drama.  Catherine (Lancashire) doesn't pull any punches.  She's a badass but she's also a three dimensional character, something good TV can do over the course of several episodes.  They make it happen within minutes but the character (and supporting cast) is so good that it's a treat to spend six hour (per season) with them.   I've only seen the first season but the second is on my plate.

Thursday, January 4, 2018

Bob's Burgers (2011) TV series

Creators: Loren Bouchard, Jim Dauterive

Composers: Loren Bouchard, John Dylan Keith, Elegant Too, Phil Hernandez, Chris Maxwell

Starring: H. Jon Benjamin, Dan Mintz, Eugene Mirman, John Roberts, Kristen Schaal, Larry Murphy, David Herman, Andy Kindler, Sarah Silverman, Kevin Kline, Tim Meadows, Zach Galifianakis, Aziz Ansari, Billy Eichner, Jordan Peele, Bill Hader, Gary Cole, Keegan-Michael Key, Samantha Bee, Molly Shannon, Will Forte, Jim Gaffigan, Rachel Dratch, Robert Smigel

More info: IMDb

Plot: Bob Belcher, along with his wife and 3 children, try to run their last hope of holding the family together, which is running Bob's dream restaurant.



My rating: 8/10

Will I watch it again?  Yes.

Great show.  It's funny, creative, raunchy and sometimes outrageous.  The toilet episode (promo'd in the video above) is a riot and it's a good example of how crazy the show can be.  The voice talent is great as is the writing.  There are lots of cute and clever little gags in the background, giving it something more than just funny lines for the actors.  I've seen everything up through season 7 and 8 is underway.  It's been on long enough and it's popular enough (you'll find cosplayers as these characters at any comic con) that it'll probably last for a few more years.

Tuesday, January 2, 2018

The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret (2010) TV series

Creator: David Cross

Writers: David Cross, Shaun, Pye, Mark Chappell

Composers: Johnny Marr, Mark Rivers

Starring: David Cross, Will Arnett, Sharon Horgan, Blak Harrison, Sara Pascoe, Amber Tamblyn, Justin Edwards, Russ Tamblyn, Jon Hamm, Graham Duff

More info: IMDb

Tagline: World's worst liar.  Honest.

Plot: Todd Margaret is an American who takes a job running the London sales team for an energy drink. He has no experience with British culture, knows nothing about sales and has only one employee, Dave.



My rating: 7.5/10

Will I watch it again?  Yes.

I first caught wind of this shortly after it aired in 2010 from a clip online of when, in the first episode, Todd is in a coffee shop in England trying to sell his company's energy drink to the owner.  It was hilarious but an awkward kind of funny where Todd keeps fucking up right and left in the worst possible way.  It wasn't until the beginning of 2016 that I started watching it on Netflix where I binged through the series.  There are only six episodes per season at about 23 minutes each so it's not that much of a commitment.  If you don't like David Cross then you won't like this.  I found this hilarious.  I like that awkward humor that defines this show.  This US/UK co-production is almost entirely set in England and they make use of a lot of outdoor locations.  There are so many twists and turns that your head will spin.  I really loved the direction that each season took, playing off the one before it in ways you won't expect.  It's definitely got repeat viewing appeal for more than just re-visiting the laughs.  I about lost my shit when I recognized Graham Duff as a monk.  He was the creative force behind one of my favorite UK shows, IDEAL (2005), and he played one fucking hilarious character in it.    He's in seasons two and three in TODD MARGARET.  This type of humor isn't for most people but for those it is, it's delicious.  I'm hoping for more episodes but I'm not holding my breath.

Sunday, December 31, 2017

Bates Motel (2013) TV series

Creators: Carlton Cruse, Kerry Ehrin

Writers: Anthony Cipriano, Carlton Cruse, Kerry Ehrin

Composer: Chris Bacon

Starring: Vera Farmiga, Freddie Highmore, Max Thieriot, Olivia Cooke, Nestor Carbonell

More info: IMDb

Tagline: A boy's best friend is his mother.

Plot: A contemporary prequel to Psycho, giving a portrayal of how Norman Bates' psyche unravels through his teenage years, and how deeply intricate his relationship with his mother, Norma, truly is.



My rating: 8/10

Will I watch it again?  Yes.

I was very skeptical upon hearing they were making a TV show based on my favorite horror movie.  I was wrong.  It's excellent.  Norman and his mother (superbly played by Highmore and Farmiga) have been turned into two very engaging characters.  By the end of the first episode I acclimated to the old look of the show set in modern day.  It was strange at first but they've made it work so well.  Just about everything works for me from the actors, writing, score and so on.  It can be a little frustrating at how long the show is being dragged out but I'm mostly fine with that.  It's great fucking drama with a cast of characters I really dig.  There's a moment at the end of the last episode of season two (I think it's that one) where in seconds you see Norman from the show transform into the Norman from the Hitchcock picture and it made my skin tingle with glee.  It's so subtle and so brilliantly executed.  I'm made my way through season 3 and I need to plow through 4 with 5 hitting Netflix in hopefully a month or two.  I'm truly marveled with how good television has become over the past few years.  In that regard, it's a remarkable time to be alive.

Saturday, December 23, 2017

Peep Show (2003) TV series

Creators: Jesse Armstrong, Sam Bain, Andrew O'Connor

Writers: David Mitchell, Robert Webb, Jesse Armstrong, Sam Bain, Andrew O'Connor

Composer: Daniel Pemberton

Starring: David Mitchel Robert Webb, Matt King, Olivia Colman, Neil Fitzmaurice, Isy Suttie, Paterson Joseph, Sophie Winkleman, Jim Howick

More info: IMDb

Tagline: Welcome to the private world of Jeremy and Mark - two very ordinary weirdos.

Plot: Mark and Jez are a couple of twenty-something roommates who have nothing in common - except for the fact that their lives are anything but normal. Mayhem ensues as the pair strive to cope with day-to-day life.



My rating: 9.5/10

Will I watch it again?  And again, and again...

I don't have enough words to describe how much I love this show.  It was only a few short years ago that I got turned on and I never want to tune out.  It was hilarious from episode one.  The gimmick, if you can call it that, is that it's filmed in first person (hence Peep Show) but it's not just a gimmick.  Very quickly you get used to the filming style.  The comedy and chemistry between Webb & Mitchell takes care of that.  All of the characters on the show are wonderfully funny and creative.  Outside of M&W, two of my absolute favorites, though I love them all, are Matt King as Super Hans and Paterson Joseph as Alan Johnson.  I've never seen characters like them and what those actors bring to the characters is priceless.  When Season 9 debuted in November 2015 I was so pleased and I've been hoping for a season 10 ever since.  But, when on YouTube looking for a suitable clip for this post, I found a video from two years ago of an hour long interview with the two guys saying season 9 was the last one.  Now I'm sad.  At least I've got 54 episodes (27 hours) of fun whenever I'm ready.  I've already watched it at least twice through and I'm about ready to start again.  I'm just sad that there probably won't be any further adventures of the El Dude Brothers.  Here's hoping for a special every once in a while.

Monday, December 18, 2017

Hell on Wheels (2011) TV series

Creators: Joe Gayton, Tony Gayton

Composer: Kevin Kiner

Starring: Anson Mount, Colm Meaney, Robin McLeavy, Phil Burke, Christopher Heyerdahl, Dohn Norwood, Common, Kasha Kropinski, Tom Noonan, Dominique McElligott

More info: IMDb

Tagline: Blood will be spilled. Lives will be lost. Men will be ruined.

Plot: Cullen Bohannon, a former soldier and slaveholder, follows the track of a band of Union soldiers, the killers of his wife. This brings him to the middle of one of the biggest projects in US history, the building of the transcontinental railroad. After the war years in the 1860s, this undertaking connected the prospering east with the still wild west.



My rating: 6/10

Will I watch it again?  No.

I wanted to like this.  I really did.  Being a HUGE fan of Westerns, getting a high budget TV series felt like it was my birthday...until I watched it.  I wanted to stop after the first couple of episodes but I kept going and gave up after the sixth.  The characters did nothing for me.  Cullen (Mount) is the guy I'm supposed to be rootin' for but he and several of the others were so bland I couldn't get behind them.  I've heard the show is good until season three when it went off the rails and it was all downhill from there but I can't even get that far.  Does the second half of season one get better?  I'd still like to believe that it does because I REALLY dig this kind of shit but not this show.  

Wednesday, December 13, 2017

Danger 5 (2011) TV series

Director: Dario Russo

Writers: David Ashby, Dario Russo

Composer: Dario Russo

Starring: David Ashby, Sean James Murphy, Natasa Ristic, Amanda Simons, Carmine Russo, Michelle Nightingale, Andreas Sobik, Dario Russo, Chris Asimos

More info: IMDb

Tagline: Last time it was war. This time it's personal.

Plot: It's the 1960s.  Adolph Hitler is still trying to take over the world and it's up to Danger 5 to stop them.



My rating: 7.5/10

Will I watch it again?  Yes.

This wildly creative Australian TV show nailed it with their Gerry Anderson marionette 60s TV show spoof while throwing in all manner of special effects from model work to stop motion animation.  The costumes, dialogue, edits and overall aesthetic were brilliantly executed into one funny as shit show.  The first episode of season one is a masterpiece.  The other five episodes don't hold up to the first but it's still a very fun ride.  The second season of seven episodes is set in the 1980s and does more of the same but while holding to the novelties of that decade like they did in season one with the 1960s.  I'm sad there aren't more of this series but I'm glad that these crazy kids had what it took to make what they did.  Watch the trailer above and you'll see just how insanely fun this is.  Two and a half years ago this was on Netflix.  I have no idea where it can be seen today.

Friday, December 8, 2017

Forensic Firsts (2012) TV series

Starring: Erik Thompson

More info: IMDb

Plot: DNA Profiling. Toxicology. Ballistics. Today's criminal investigators employ powerful scientific tools to catch bad guys. But where did they come from and how do they really work?



My rating: 7.5/10

Will I watch it again?  Maybe.

This is similar to the excellent show, THE FORENSIC FILES, but it focuses on crimes that had a significant impact in future investigations.  It's good like FF but it's not as compelling.  It doesn't try to be.  It spends less time on the crimes and more time on the forensic process and the challenges that were faced.  And this show didn't only tackle serial killers or crimes of murder.  It touched on other types of crimes that forensics played a major role in solving.  For forensic nuts like me this is pure candy.  It only ran for two seasons with a total of thirteen one hour episodes.

Mindhunter (2017) TV series

Creator: Joe Penhall

Directors: David Fincher, Andrew Douglas, Asif Kapadia, Tobias Lindholm

Composer: Jason Hill

Starring: Jonathan Groff, Holt McCallany, Hannah Gross, Sonny Valicenti, Anna Torv, Cotter Smith, Cameron Britton

More info: IMDb

Plot: In the late 1970s two FBI agents expand criminal science by delving into the psychology of murder and getting uneasily close to all-too-real monsters.



My rating: 9/10

Will I watch it again?  Yes!!!

I'm fascinated with serial killers and the men and women who solve their crimes with equal attraction.  Years ago I read John Douglas's book Mindhunter about how he and others formed the Behavioral Science Division of the FBI beginning in the 1970s.  It's an incredible read.  This show is somewhat based on his book.  It's been a while since I read it and with my memory I need to revisit it, particularly since I've seen the first season so I can compare the two.  I recognize some of what the show does from the book.  Before I get into what I dig about the show, there's one thing that bugs me a little and that's the dark grading of the picture.  I'm going to assume that they're doing it this way to fill the show with a dark sense of gloom.  It's not a pretty subject trying to get into the minds of these killers but the overall shading of the show seems a bit much.


Now, the good stuff.  The acting is stellar.  They all do a wonderful job but the standout for me is Holt McCallany as Bill Tench.  Wow!  Where did this guy come from?  I've seen very little of his work but he's on my radar now.  I LOVE his character.  What's more than the good performances is that they also work very well together and they all have interesting looks that match their roles to a 'T'.  Cameron Britton, who plays Ed Kemper, is spot-fucking-on!  When I saw the trailer I about lost most shit when he showed up.  The score works well, the look of the period, the small doses of humor without feeling out of place or shoe-horned in, the cars - it all works.  It's a compelling, true crime thriller that builds and builds to a great season finale.  At only eleven episodes it feels far too short.  I don't want to stop watching these people do what they do.  David Fincher is one of the producers and he wants this show to continue for five more seasons.  Netflix ordered seasons two before the first one aired.  Goody.

Monday, December 4, 2017

G.B.H. (1991) TV series

Director: Robert Young

Writer: Alan Bleasdale

Composers: Elvis Costello, Richard Harvey

Starring: Robert Lindsay, Michael Palin, Dearbhla Molloy, Alan Igbon, Andrew Schofield, Philip Whitchurch, Julie Walters, Paul Oldham, Tom Georgeson, Peter-Hugo Daly, Jane Danson, Lindsay Duncan, Edward Mallon, Hayley Fairclough, Stephen Hall, Paul Butterworth, Peter Armitage

More info: IMDb

Tagline: A savage indictment of power.

Plot: Michael Murray is an ambitious and charismatic politician, Jim Nelson is a much loved headmaster of a local school for disturbed children. When the paths of these two men cross, things are destined never to be the same again.



My rating: 7.5/10

Will I watch it again?  No.

I only wanted to see this because it starred Michael Palin.  It's highly rated and all but JESUS FUCK!  It's 9 and a half hours long!!!!  Put that into your pipe and smoke it!  Each episode of this series is about an hour and twenty minutes long and there are seven of them.  Now, the first episode moves along OK until the final half hour where it very intense.  Now I'm completely on board.  Whatever feelings I had about giving up were gone.  It was such a powerful half hour that there was no way I wasn't going to see this through.  The next couple of episodes weren't nearly as captivating but they did hold my interest.  The two leads, Lindsay and Palin, are magnificent.  The series is mostly about political intrigue but there's more to it than that.  It's mostly serious but as each episode played, it got surprisingly funny to the point that episode 4 is loaded with slapstick comedy.  At first I thought it was too much but seeing Lindsay running around the hotel with his hand thrusting in the air along with his eye tick (these things happen to him when he gets too nervous) feels like something out of a FAWLTY TOWERS (1975) episode and not this.  I ended up laughing a lot before that episode was over.

Then with episode 5 the silliness continued but scaled back a lot until at least episodes 6 and 7 things were back to political intrigue territory and became gravely serious and delivers a satisfying finale, tying up any loose ends the major players have.  The tone is all over the place.  The comedy only sometimes works but at times it feels unnecessary and awkward.  More than a few scenes go on for too long, give too much information or flesh out characters that don't matter one bit to the main characters.  Jim's (Palin) poet friend Martin, for example, is a character that I loved and I dug his storyline and arc.  However, it didn't seem to have anything to do with the major threads of the overall story.  His bits could've been taken out completely and would've had little to no effect on the series.  There's enough of that kind of thing that you could probably lose an episode or two.  I would've also preferred that the film, if we can call it that, didn't stray so much into silly territory and stayed closer to the more serious aspects that these two men are embroiled in.  It's still a good watch and it's a good look at how politics is played but it could've been better.  I'm also writing this right after finishing a two day binge from start to finish so I've barely allowed myself time to let it all sink in.  Plus I'm nursing a cold but I won't hold that against the Labor Party.

Thursday, November 30, 2017

Bring 'Em Back Alive (1982) TV series

Creators: Frank Cardea, George Schenck

Composers: Arthur B. Rubinstein, William David Brohn

Starring: Bruce Boxleitner, Clyde Kusatsu, Ron O'Neal, Cindy Morgan, George Cheung, Harvey Jason

More info: IMDb

Plot: Pith-helmeted Buck is a Great White Hunter who here (unlike the real one from the 1940s) works out of the Raffles Hotel bar in Singapore during the 1930s fighting all kinds of bad guys in pre-war Malaya.

My rating: 7/10

Will I watch it again?  Nah.

When you have a hit movie as big as RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK (1981), you're bound to have lots of copycats and inspirations.  This show probably wouldn't have happened (along with it's competition, and the better of the two shows, TALES OF THE GOLD MONKEY (1982)) without RAIDERS' popularity.  It's not a RAIDERS knock-off but it does share the jungle adventure and serial inspiration.  The series died after 17 episodes and you see how they kind of got better as they went along to the point of having a much better show if they had another season.  There are some fun moments along the way like Frank (Boxleitner) reaching for his gun to shoot someone realizing it's not in its holster.  Then there are the serial cliffhanger moments with a car running off a cliff to explode on impact only to find out after the commercial that Frank and the princess had gotten out before the nose drive, something they conveniently left out until after the commercials.  Watching this as a 13 year old when it aired in '82 was a gas.  I watched this and TALES OF THE GOLD MONKEY to get my RAIDERS fix.  I ate this stuff up.  Seeing it 35 years later doesn't much stir up those childhood feelings but it does remind me a little when shows like this were the shit in my eyes.  As an adult I can see the clumsiness of some scenes (particularly the fist fights) and how obvious some things were shot on a studio backlot but it's still fun. 

 

The acting is fine for what it is.  It's in the style of the serials from the 40s and 50s.  You can easily see at first glance who the good guys are and who the bad guys are.  Ron "Superfly" O'Neil is fun and he gets more adventurous as the shows progressed.  I would've liked to see his character be a quality rival for Frank where they each best each other from time to time.  The list of character actors that came in went is impressive like Walter Koenig, Mako, Jack Gwillim, Elisha Cook Jr., Sid Haig, M.C. Gainey, Richard Lynch, George Lazenby, Richard Anderson, Christopher Connelly and Robert Davi.  Now I just need to find TALES OF THE GOLD MONKEY.

Sunday, November 19, 2017

Snuff Box (2006) TV series

Creators: Matt Berry, Rich Fulcher

Director: Michael Cumming

Writers: Matt Berry, Rich Fulcher

Composer: Matt Berry

Starring: Matt Berry, Rich Fulcher, Terry Wade, Alan Ford, Nick Lucas, Lene Godfrey, Sarah Merry, Richard Ayoade

More info: IMDb

Tagline: A deviously inventive comedy.

Plot: Two hangmen (Matt Berry and Rich Fulcher) compete for women, money and happiness, venturing deeper in the ocean of depravity than any friends should in a whiskey-fuelled, cross-cultural friendship.



My rating: 7.5/10

Will I watch it again?  Yes.

Recently I've been watching more TV shows that didn't last past the first season (or two).  This is a shitty coincidence but I started watching SNUFF BOX and I finished the 6 episode run over a couple of nights.  The show creators and stars Berry and Fulcher put together this absurd sketch comedy show.  I'm not sure if they wanted the series to continue or if this set of six was all they had but it's very, very funny.  Like all sketch comedy shows, some jokes land and some don't.  But hopefully you like the actors and that can go a long way, getting you through the rough patches.  The first two episodes were very solid.  From there it got a little sketchy (sorry about the pun) as some of the bits were great and some weren't but the great thing about shows like this is if you don't like it just wait five minutes for the next bit.  Hell, it's got the wonderful Alan Ford as a foul-mouthed priest for fuck's sake!  Music plays a big role in the show and I really dig the main theme that gets used a lot.  It reminds me a lot of a song the British psychedelic band Temples had on their debut record.  The show tried a lot of different things and even the recurring bits were altered enough to keep them entertaining even though you knew the punchline.  Both of these guys came from THE MIGHTY BOOSH (2004), a show I've known about for years and I keep meaning to get to.  After seeing these guys in SNUFF BOX and having 3 hours to get to know their work, I'm definitely ready for more.