Dexter - Coming Soon!

Just a short post today, just to remind everyone that we're just days away from the opening episode of the new season of Dexter! Now, if you've never seen Dexter then all I can say us get on Netflix immediately! There you'll find all the old seasons and just immerse yourself! Honestly, Dexter is one of those shows I just can't recommend enough. The seasons are perhaps too short for some peoples' liking (typically 12 episodes each) but you get a whole hour for each one and absolutely zero filler. Add to that the fact that the plots are always devilishly clever and the acting is just superb. Really, really looking forward to seeing what the new season has to offer!

Out soon: Looper

So we're just days away from the UK release of Looper and I couldn't wait to write about it, so here's a sneak peek of what's to come.

Looper looks set to be an all-out action thriller set in a world in which time travel has enabled presumably criminal organisations in the future to send back into the past any shady characters they want knocking off. Joseph Gordon Levitt plays the role of one of those who do the knocking off, but his world is turned upside down when one day the man he is sent to kill is actually a future version of himself, played by Bruce Willis. From here on little is obvious from the trailer, but it looks like we're in for a healthy dose of chase scenes, gun fights and car chases.

I'm very excited for this one and will hopefully get a chance to catch it this weekend.

The return of Glee!

So I've just finished watching the second episode of Glee season 4, and so far I'm actually really impressed. For anyone that doesn't know me,
let me just say that I'm a BIG fan of this show, and as such I came into season 4 with very high expectations, so for it meet my expectations hopefully
says it all. But, just to be thorough, I'll say a little more.

Fans of Glee will know that the last 3 seasons have mostly revolved around the hopes and dreams of a plucky group of high school students, but obviously
no one stays in high school forever, so at the end of the last season the writers decided to have a lot of the characters graduate and move off to college.
That meant that coming into season 4 there were always going to be some big shoes to fill, and so far they've managed introduced 2 new characters to the Glee club (the beautiful Marley Rose, played by Melissa Benoist, and the fearless Jake Puckerman, played by Jacob Artist), both of whom
are, as you'd expect, fantastic singers, and so far I've been pretty impressed by Benoist's performance as the shy new girl from a poor background.

Other new additions to the cast include Brody, the upper classman at NYADA (yes, the show is continuing to follow the adventures of Rachel (and a few of the other McKinley alumni)
 after graduation, which is a nice touch) who is played by Dean Geyer (you may have seen him in Terra Nova last year), and Cassandra July, NYADA's super strict dance coach, played by Kate Hudson.

Rookie Blue - Season 3 - My thoughts

A few weeks ago we reached the end of season 3 of Rookie Blue, which has become one of my favourite shows of late. That said, the summer line up isn't what it once was; These days I mostly just look forward to this and True Blood, but, Rookie Blue is one of those great shows you can just pick up whenever you feel like it, and for me it always has a certain feel-good factor.

For those readers who aren't familiar Rookie Blue is a Canadian police drama following the lives of five or so recent recruits to the force, highlighting their various victories as well as defeats. There's a certain amount of character progression per season, but each episode is otherwise entirely self-contained.

So what about season 3? What was different? For me this season felt slightly darker and more serious than the previous 2, and crucially the writers showed us they're not afraid to get rid of main characters. Now I've read mixed reactions to that, but personally I'm glad to see the show mature a bit and almost grow into itself. And unsurprisingly the show has been renewed for a 4th season, expected to begin in June/July 2013.

Stardust: Review

So last night I decided to kick back and watch an old favourite of mine; Stardust. It's actually not that old I guess, but it has a slightly timeless quality.

Well, how best to describe it? First of all it's based on a Neil Gaiman story, who, if you didn't already know, is an especially famous and well loved author. His stories are typically in the genres of fantasy or science fiction, and  personally I have a huge appreciation for his works. And so this story is essentially a classic tale of an under-appreciated, less than handsome boy who leaves humble beginnings to lead an epic adventure across vast and unimaginable landscapes to save the ever beautiful damsel in distress. Throw in a healthy dose of witchcraft and wizardry, along with a few extra companions to provide some comic relief, and you're on for a winner!

Perhaps I sound sarcastic or like I'm intending to point out the cliche, but I'm actually not. Stardust is one of the movies where you just forget yourself, you give over to the mythos and enjoy its cute little quirks and variances.

Honestly, there's little else I can really say. Yes, it's a simple film but it's heart warming, it romances you into disbelief.

And it goes without saying that the performances of its all star cast are excellent. I was particularly impressed with Claire Danes, I felt she could brilliantly convey the absolute myriad of emotions the role demanded of her

Overall, a very enjoyable movie, and one I recommend whole heartedly to all my readers.

Shaun of the Dead

This is one of the few Edgar Wright movies I haven't already blogged about! It's actually not one of my favourites but still very funny and fantastically British.

It's basically your classic zombie survival movie, except in this the lead roles (played by Simon Pegg and Nick Frost) are a bit slow on the up take, and  even after they have realised what's going on, they're more inclined to panic and run off on crazy missions than to actually try to stay safe.

What I love about this movie (and this applies to most stuff by Edgar Wright) is that it's funny and perhaps a little silly without being slapstick or derogatory the way that a lot of modern Hollywood comedies are.

If you've seen and liked Hot Fuzz, then you'll love this. Otherwise, I strongly recommend both!

Awesome new Superhero Movie covers!

Today I thought I'd kick things off by talking about the new "Reel Heroes" covers which have been released by Universal studios for a whole host of their comic-book and superhero movies. I actually stumbled across these quite by accident while walking through my local HMV store, and ended up coming away with Hot Fuzz and Shaun of the Dead on Blu-ray. I would have bought Scott Pilgrim vs. the World too, if they'd had it in stock, but then along came Amazon and all was put right.

Overall I'm pretty happy with my purchases. The covers are of a good quality (they're card sleeves, slightly embossed, with the same design on the inside case) and look great on a display shelf.

Prometheus - 2/5

Let me start off by making it clear I'm not an Alien fanboy. In fact I'm not sure I've even seen them all? But I certainly have nothing against them. So I went into Prometheus with almost no expectations. I barely even saw the trailer.

So, what struck me first was of course the incredible CGI and the elaborate set design. It really is very pretty and very believable, so top marks there.

As the film progressed I then became enamered by the role played by Micheal Fassbender, which is essentially that of a slave. He is a robot tasked with keeping the ship in order and the crew happy. What I love about Fassbender's performance is that even early on you get the distinct impression that his character resents his job, but it's very subtle.

Of course, the plot quickly moves on and the human crew is off exploring the depths of some unknown planet until the inevitable happens, and actually this part of the film is fairly gripping, but while watching it I can't help but feel a bit lost, because I don't know which sub-plot I'm supposed to be more interested in; the humans fighting to survive in the caves, or the robot back on the ship struggling for equal rights. I think the writers want me to care more for the humans but I just don't. By this point in the film I don't know them well enough to care, although most seem perfectly likeable.

But maybe I'm nitpicking. Ultimately it is still entertaining to watch what's going on in the caves. And the other performances are good as well.

So, my overall thoughts? It's a very pretty film with a nice score and some impressive escape scenes, but for me it just lacked direction. I didn't really care when characters died. So, maybe give it a watch if you find it on Netflix, but I wouldn't go out of my way to see it.

Ye Old Reviews: Prison Break

Hey all. So I'm going to try something a little different today. This will hopefully be the first in a long line of "Ye Old Reviews" articles in which I discuss TV shows from yesteryear.

This week it's Prison Break. For anyone that didn't catch this show while it was airing let me briefly summarise. It all starts off with a man, Micheal Scofield (played by Wentworth Miller) who has been struggling for the past 3 years to prove the innocence of his brother, Lincoln Burrows (played by Dominic ...), who was arrested for the supposed murder of the vice president's brother, and is due to be given the death penalty. Unfortunately for Scofield, every time he gets closer to the truth something or someone intervenes to stop him and now Lincoln's time is almost up and his sentence is beyond appeal. But all is not lost, because by day Scofield works as a structural engineer and as it happens the firm he works for designed and built the prison his brother is being held in, giving him unique access to the blueprints. Armed with these schematics and a keen intellect Scofield devises an elaborate escape plan and promptly gets himself incarcerated in the same facility for a rather feebly attempted armed robbery.

From here on the plot expands to encompass a myriad of new characters, most of which are fellow inmates at the prison, meanwhile the audience is led on a merry chase as Scofield's plan continually goes from triumph to disaster.

Now I'm not quite whether this a good or bad thing. Perhaps it's writing genius because it certainly kept me on the edge of my seat the whole time, though it did become a little tiring.

But what about after season 1? Well I'll try to discuss this as best I can without spoiling it for anyone. Prison Break ran for a total of 4 seasons, with all but season 3 containing around 25 episodes. Season 3 was sadly cut short by the writers strike and so only has about half as many episodes, and I'm afraid to say it does suffer for it. However it's still good enough to keep you on the edge of your seat, and those that persevere will be rewarded with a significant return to form in season 4, and a well written finale too (thankfully this was one of those shows that knew when to quit and did so gracefully rather than being abruptly axed by its network).

V for Vendetta - An instant classic!

A few days ago I decided to re-watch one of my favourite comic-book movies, V for Vendetta. Some of you may already be aware that the original story for V was written Alan Moore (Watchmen, From Hell, and creator of the Joker character in Batman), but due to his difficult experiences with Hollywood in the past, he declined to have anything to do with V or any subsequent adaptations of his works (which I personally think is a great shame seeing as how V and Watchmen are among my favourite films, though I will agree that Hollywood did ruin From Hell and the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen).

So then, how best to describe V for Vendetta. Well, the first thing you should know is that it was produced by the Wachowski brothers (The Matrix), so as you'd expect the fight scenes are pretty spectacular. But what still impresses me most about this movie is its honesty to the story, and yes, I know the screenplay actually differs a fair bit from Moore's original work, but in my opinion the core principles are still there and as strong as ever. I love that as much screen time (perhaps even more) is given to detectives trying to find V as is given to V himself, and I love that I feel as though I'm seeing the world through their eyes and not just his. And of course the performances of Huge Weaving and Natalie Portman are both excellent, as it that of Stephen Fry.

I think this will remain one of my favourite movies for some time.