Archive

TV

Eastbound and Down

December 8, 2009
TV
1 Comment

Eastbound and Down: six episode comedy series about a former baseball superstar as he tries to get re-signed to the major-league and win back his old girl. The single biggest reason to watch this is the brilliant Kenny Powers; mark my words, he’ll go down as one of the greatest comedy characters of all-time. Not dissimilar to Cartman, he’s an incredibly self-centred and brutally honest, loud-mouthed, redneck. The script, and in particular Kenny’s lines, are consistently golden, and totally quotable. The other characters are all pretty generic (in a good & watchable way), but McBride absolutely steals the show. Despite all the laughs there’s some alright dramatic moments, and the finale is very well done. It looks nice – not unlike My Name Is Earl – and the story’s interesting enough to keep you watching. I am absolutely lusting over the prospect of a second season. Although it’s aimed more at guys over girls this should be mandatory viewing for all. Comedy of the year?

Score: 8/10

Summer Heights High

December 2, 2009
TV
1 Comment

Summer Heights High: set over the course of a school term this eight episode mockumentary follows three characters; a camp drama teacher, private-school girl on exchange and disruptive Polynesian kid. Not for the P.C crowd, the series constantly throws up jokes about disabilities, gingers, suicide, molestation, drugs, rape… basically, nothing is taboo. There’s some great running gags through the episodes and the characters are all solid, well-resreached / acted & genuinely humorous. Not without is faults the series does start to drag around he 5th/6th episode, some dialogue gets lost in scenes with several people talking or arguing (particularly with the girls) and the majority of the laugh-out-loud parts are crude, relying more on shock. Between the believable way that it’s shot and the harsh content it wouldn’t be too obvious that it was a comedy if you found this channel surfing. The breakdancing ‘Polly’ character (Jonah) and Mr G’s play at the end were my highlights of the show. What ‘Neighbours’ should be like!

Score: 7/10

The Take

September 10, 2009
TV
Leave a comment

The Take: based on a Martina Cole novel, this was a 4 part mini-series following the two Gangsters as they rise through the London criminal underworld. From the outset (Kassabian theme song, stock gangster names, and violence accompanied by lame gags) you know it’s not going to be high-brow entertainment. It’s full of over-acting, terrible cockney accents and generic geezers that you’d associate with Danny Dyer / Guy Ritchie films. It started in the early 1980s and ended mid-90’s, leapfrogging months or years at a time, sometimes with little indication. Despite this it was shot well, the original music was great, had moments of drama and although it was fairly predictable, the story does keep you watching. The settings and props were also spot-on. They tried to make it smarter as smart as they could, but it still turned out to be a middle-of-the-road, sensationalised crime tale.

Score: 5/10

The Wire

August 27, 2009
TV
1 Comment

The Wire: summing this up in a paragraph is criminal, but I’ll give it a go. Written as, and plays out like, a rewarding volume of books. Most recurring characters are fully developed, believable, flawed, yet admirable in one way or another – watching their individual journeys over the seasons is brilliant. It peaks in Seasons 2 & 3, but don’t write off 1, 4 and 5 because they are still well above par! Upon finishing the last season you’ll literally feel a large void in your life. Having watched it twice round it’s the only show I’ve seen where things mentioned in Season 1 aren’t significant ’til further down the line – as late as season 5. If anything, it’s more rewarding on the 2nd viewing. Because you have to pay attention, it’s not for absolutely everyone, and it may take a few episodes to get you hooked, but is definitely one of the most rewarding and enjoyable things you’ll have the privilege of watching. It’s realistic, the acting’s great, storylines are epic, technically sound and the police methods are so real that actual gangsters watch the Wire to learn surveillance techniques. If you haven’t seen this yet, do yourself a favour and pick it up. I know for a fact that this will become known as one of the greatest TV shows ever made.

Score: 9.5/10

24 Redemption

July 13, 2009
TV
Leave a comment

24 Redemption: It was pretty good. Bit strange not having it set in LA, but made for a decent change. Favourite part was his rambo moment in the trees! That was phenomenal(ly funny). Not mentioning country names also leads to this being set in the mysterious African region of Sengala. Tee’d up season 7 brilliantly by introducing a new host of cannon fodder characters… except TONY ALMEDA! Only complaint was that there was a lot going on in the space of two hours. Thought they could have used the feature to break from real-time and get some location madness on the go.

Score: 7/10