Dan's Media Digest

MERLIN 2.7 - "The Witchfinder"

2009-11-08T00:30:00.001Z

[SPOILERS] The celebrity guest stars have been eceptional this series, but I feel Charles Dance topped them all as the manipulative Aredian, a renowned Witchfinder summoned by King Uther (Anthony Head) after a servant witnesses a horse conjured in smoke from a campfire by Merlin (Colin Morgan)...

Aredian swept into Camelot with a bundle of clichés in tow (giant black horses, a portable cage, omenous soundtrack), but what made his character work perfectly was seeing him exhibit such flair for sniffing out sorcery. Within moments he had interviewed Merlin and had denounced him as a warlock, although suspicion quickly shifted to Gaius (Richard Wilson) when a magical amulet was found in a powder jar he kept, and the physician was forced to take the blame for its existence to protect Merlin. Aredian even had cause to worry Morgana (Katie McGrath), who likewise fears exposure for her magical abilities, upon hearing about the nightmares she's been having.

Somewhat inevitably, Aredian was exposed as a charlatan who travels from kingdom to kingdom framing innocent peasants for witchcraft (it's an old trope, expected from the start), but I think Jake Michie's script did a good job dissuading us from this initial expectation for awhile -- at least until the Witchfinder was seen blackmailing Gaius into giving a false confession. Like many Merlin scripts, they struggle to plough fresh ground or rise above a formula ingrained in its family-friendly nature, but they're doing a far better job disgusing its failings this year. A part of me wished the script hadn't gone down the route of making Aredian a callous charlatan, but admittedly this was a twist younger viewers probably won't have seen before.

It also helps that Merlin's casting is so precise, and Charles Dance was clearly having great fun playing a slimy, malicious conman. This episode even afforded Richard Wilson a rare opportunity in the spotlight, as Gaius offered himself as sacrifice to protect Merlin, showing just how much he loves the boy who's essentially his adopted son. Also memorable was a late scene between the acquitted Gaius and a repentant, embarrassed Uther -- a good example of the series occasional maturity in how it handles its characters, and a barbed reminder that Uther's prejudice has been responsible for many less fortunate innocents being burnt at the stake in the past.

With hindsight, "The Witchfinder" was content to do exactly what you expected of it, but thankfully in a way that didn't feel totally predictable and obvious, somehow. I think it helped that we were genuinely rattled by how quickly Aredian got down to business and flukily targeted people with magical secrets to hide. Perhaps more could have been done to explain why he wanted to frame Gaius in particular (as there appeared to be bad blood between the pair it would have been nice to get an insight into), but maybe there just wasn't time.

The episode was a strong showcase for Dance and Wilson, and it was nice to see the Dragon (John Hurt) proving itself entirely useless for once -- as my heart sinks whenever Merlin wanders down into that cave to be given all the answers. I'm hoping series 2's overall plan is to release the dragon in the finale and make him a less prominent facet of the show, as it's become too much of a lazy shortcut for the writers.

So yes, a very enjoyable episode that managed the difficult trick of making a clichéd storyline feel rather fresh and unpredictable for a long stretch, while offering a few of its actors a chance to shine.

7 November 2009
BBC1, 5.40pm

written by: Jake Michie directed by: Jeremy Webb starring: Charles Dance (Aredian), Anthony Head (King Uther), Colin Morgan (Merlin), Richard Wilson (Gaius), John Hurt (Dragon, voice), Bradley James (Arthur), Katie McGrath (Morgana), Angel Coulby (Gwen), Rupert Young (Sir Leon), David Sterne (The Apothecary), Victoria Finney (Cathryn), Katie Foster-Barnes (Beatrice), Fairbank Hynes (Annis Amanda) & Samara MacLaren (Rowena)

Breaking Bad: Season 1 Reviews

2009-11-07T21:20:00.001Z

I'm a massive fan of Breaking Bad -- which is currently being shown on Five USA every Tuesday at 11pm. Season 1 has already been shown on FX, but Five have now acquired the rights and will get the UK premiere of season 2. Sadly, Five USA is still a minority channel, so this excellent series continues to lurk on the periphery of pop-culture here. It deserves a place on primetime Channel 4, if you ask me... but, I urge everyone to tune in. You won't regret it. Below are links to my first season reviews (written during their US broadcast on AMC), so British viewers can bookmark this page and follow along. You'd be mad not to:

1. "Pilot"
2. "Cat's In The Bag..."
3. "... And The Bag's In The Water"
4. "Cancer Man"
5. "Gray Matter"
6. "Crazy Handful Of Nothin'"
7. "A No-Rough-Stuff Type Deal"

COMEDY SHOWCASE: Campus

2009-11-07T15:16:00.004Z

A welcome return for Channel 4's comedy pilot season, kicking off with a university-set retread of Green Wing. It's impossible not to think of that hospital comedy when watching Campus, as the same creative team are behind both, and Campus made no attempt to evolve beyond its progenitor. If you loved Green Wing, chance are you'll have your fingers crossed Campus gets a full series. If you hated Green Wing, you'll hate this...

Me? I didn't like Green Wing, but I wouldn't stretch to hatred. I just found its schitzophrenic camera style and crazed, disjointed writing constantly got in the way of feeling any real empathy towards anyone. Each episode is a pot pourri of loosely-connected sketches and ideas, from a hive mind of a half-dozen writers, and then the performances are half-improvised on top of that. It gives everything quite a wacky, anything-goes feel that's part of the charm for many people, but I just find it annoyingly unfocused and reckless. Anarchic spirit is fine, but I like to see a bit of control at times.

Campus exists in Green Wing's universe (i.e. I like to think the East Hampton Hospital Trust is just up the road from Kirke University), so it shares many of the problems I have with its predecessor. That said, I do prefer the uni locale, as I think more people have first-hand experience of university/college than they do hospitals. For that reason, it was actually amusing to imagine lecturers and tutors behaving like schoolchildren, whereas in Green Wing I just felt a vague horror those characters had life-or-death control over hundreds of people.

Ostensibily, English professor Matt Beer (Joseph Millson) is our hero; a laidback, underachieving womanizer who swans around the campus causing mischief. There's also ferocious Vice Chancellor Jonty De Wolfe (Andy Nyman), a vulgar monster with a haircut like a meteor crater, who cuts quite a tyrannical figure (imagine a sociopathic David Brent and you're not far off); Imogen Moffat (Lisa Jackson), a demure maths lecturer who's just written a bestselling book "The True Story Of Zero"; mechanical engineering lecturer Lydia Tennant (Dolly Wells); vapid accommodations officer Nicole Huggins (Sara Pascoe), who causes an accounting error; and Jason Armitage (Will Adamsdale*) as the accountant who has to fix the fact Nicole's paid everyone their wages twice this month.

That latter subplot was the best of a mixed bag, but Campus primarily felt like a means to deliver 40-minutes of insanity, insults, oddness and quips. It was perhaps too extreme or bizarre for its own good at times, and none of the characters came across as particularly likeable, but it definitely felt like there was potential. If the writing can become more cohesive between scenes and the characters strengthened, Campus could become a satisfying show if it makes it to series. There were some hilarious moments, and the almost supernatural spectre of Jonty De Wolfe was a joy to behold. Nyman's particularly adept at spitting vitriol and chewing on obscenities, and this pilot even made use of his background as an illusionist for one memorable scene when he just vanished mid-speech.

Overall, it feels like a no-brainer that Campus will be picked up by Channel 4, as it's a perfect replacement for the popular Green Wing. I found its style to be quite distancing and too abrasive for my taste, but I'd be lying if I claimed it didn't have a lot of chutzpah and showed enough promise to warrant a full semester.

6 November 2009
Channel 4, 10pm

written by: Robert Harley, James Henry, Oriane Messina, Gary Parker, Victoria Pile, Richard Preddy, Fay Rusling & Christian Sandino-Taylor directed by: Victoria Pile starring: Andy Nyman (Jonty De Wolfe), Joseph Millson (Matt Beer), Sarah Pascoe (Nicole Huggins), Will Adamsdale (Jason Armitage), Dolly Wells (Lydia Tennant), Lisa Jackson (Imogen Moffat) & Alison Lintott (Grace)

* Yes, "Wiiiiiil" from TFI Friday!

Competition: Win a copy of MOON!

2009-11-07T13:50:00.001Z

It's competition time here at Dan's Media Digest. To celebrate the UK release of sci-fi mystery MOON on 16 November, I have one copy to give away to a lucky reader, on DVD or Blu-ray...

To enter this contest, just tell me (in no more than 69 words):

What would be the best thing about living on the Moon?

Send your entries to my inbox here (not in the comments section below.) You can make your suggestion funny, insightful, pragmatic, ridiculous, or whatever you want. It just has to capture my attention in some way.

Your e-mail must reach me by Tuesday 10 November @6pm GMT. This competition is only open to residents of the UK & Ireland who are at least 15 years old. I will personally select the winner, notify them with instructions about how to receive their disc (and in which format), and let everyone else know the result soonafter.

Warning: I'll be word-counting your entries, so they must be a maximum of 69 words long, or face disqualification. (It's 69 in honour of the year Apollo 11 landed on the moon, btw.)

I think that's everything covered. Any questions, just ask me in the comments area. In the meantime (and perhaps for inspiration?) check out Moon's groovy new website.

Misfits: clips & interview

2009-11-07T01:40:00.004Z

I'm more excited about E4's new superhero drama Misfits than I was when I first heard about the project. The recent promo was slick and arty (if a little confusing), and that style has continued into the recent TV spots -- which aren't pushing the superhero nature of the series. It wouldn't surprise me if most people tune in expecting a Skins stopgap and are astonished when the ASBO teens get superpowers! Despite some reservations about the marketing tactic, response to the press screening has been very positive, so I hope we're in for a treat -- no matter what your expectations are going in. We'll have to see. Anyway, as an appetiser before the premiere on Thursday @10pm, here are two clips of the show (above and below), and a link to a priming interview with creator Howard Overman. Enjoy.

Box Office Charts: w/e 6 November 2009

2009-11-06T18:20:00.002Z

This Is A Hit

In the US: Michael Jackson's documentary film THIS IS IT takes the #1 spot, but it's nowhere near the blockbusting juggernaut Sony were predicting, with just $23m to its name... biopic AMELIA is faring atrociousl0 in is second week of release, only just inching into the top 10 with $3m... and THE BOONDOCK SAINTS II: ALL SAINT'S DAY was only released on 63 screens, but came in off-chart at #14

US TOP 10

(-) 1. This Is It $23.2m
(1) 2. Paranormal Activity $16.4m
(4) 3. Law Abiding Citizen $7.4m
(5) 4. Couples Retreat $6.46m
(3) 5. Where The Wild Things Are $5.93m
(2) 6. Saw VI $5.27m
(6) 7. Astro Boy $3.46m
(8) 8. The Stepfather $3.21m
(7) 9. Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant $3.1m
(-) 10. Amelia $3.03m

In the UK: Likewise, the late King Of Pop grabs #1 with THIS IS IT, which took just shy of £5m... animation 9 is a disappointment at #7 with just £468,000... AN EDUCATION debuts at #8 with £399,000, but it was only released on 93 screebns (so it actually had the best per screen performance of any film this week)... and DEAD MAN RUNNING sneaks into the top 10 at #10 with a lowly £198,000...

UK TOP 10

(-) 1. This Is It £4.8m
(1) 2. Up £3.4m
(3) 3. Fantastic Mr. Fox £1.5m
(2) 4. Saw VI £940k
(5) 5. Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant £544k
(4) 6. Couples Retreat £500k
(-) 7. 9 £468k
(-) 8. An Education £399k
(6) 9. The Imaginarium Of Doctor Parnassus £323k
(-) 10. Dead Man Running £198k

UK RELEASES THIS WEEK

BRIGHT STAR

Romantic biopic. The drama based on the three-year romance between 19th century poet John Keats and Fanny Brawne, which was cut short by Keats' untimely death at age 25.
Director: Jane Campion Starring: Ben Wishaw, Abbie Cornish, Kerry Fox, Paul Schneider, Thomas Sangster & Edie Martin
Tomatometer: 83% (Fresh; based on 122 reviews) "Jane Campion's direction is as refined as her screenplay, and she gets the most out of her cast -- especially Abbie Cornish -- in this understated period drama."

A CHRISTMAS CAROL

Animated family drama. A miserly old man is haunted by three spirits on Christmas Eve, who intend to make him change his ways.
Director: Robert Zemeckis Voices/Performances: Jim Carrey, Bob Hoskins, Gary Oldman, Colin Firth, Robin Wright Penn & Cary Elwes
Tomatometer: 55% (Fresh; based on 107 reviews) "Robert Zemeckis' 3-D animated take on the Dickens classic tries hard, but its dazzling special effects distract from an array of fine performances from Jim Carrey and Gary Oldman."

JENNIFER'S BODY

Comedy-horror. A newly possessed cheerleader turns into a killer who specializes in offing her male classmates. Can her best friend put an end to the horror?
Director: Karyn Kusama Starring: Megan Fox, Anna Seyfried, Johnny Simmons, Adam Brody & Ryan Levine.
Tomatometer: 44% (Rotten; based on 136 reviews) "Jennifer's Body features occasionally clever dialogue but the horror/comic premise fails to be either funny or scary enough to satisfy."

THE MEN WHO STARE AT GOATS

Comedy. A reporter in Iraq might just have the story of a lifetime when he meets Lyn Cassady, a guy who claims to be a former member of the U.S. Army's First Earth Battalion, a unit that employs paranormal powers in their missions.
Director: Grant Heslov Starring: George Clooney, Ewan McGregor, Jeff Bridges, Kevin Spacey, Stephen Lang, Robert Patrick, Stephen Root, Glenn Morshower & Rebecca Mader.
Tomatometer: 58% (Fresh; based on 106 reviews) "Though The Men Who Stare at Goats is a mostly entertaining, farcical glimpse of men at war, some may find its satire and dark humor less than edgy."

Battlestar Galactica: The Plan (2009)

2009-11-06T13:25:00.005Z

"The Cylons were created by man. They rebelled. They evolved.
They look and feel human. Some are programmed to think they
are human. There are many copies. And they have a plan."

It ain't over till it's over. But, these days, the fat lady can be persuaded to do an encore with alternative lyrics. Months after the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica (hereafter BSG) bowed out after four feted seasons, staff writer Jane Espenson goes back to the well to show fans a different perspective on the show's first two seasons. "The Plan" is pitched as an informative peek behind a curtain to see what the mysterious Cylons were doing during these formative years, but in reality it's an indulgent exercise in retrospective repair...

Fact is, as much as I love and admire BSG for a great many things (the characters, the action, the aesthetic, the allegories), its mytharc never really held together that well. The broad sweep worked fine and it had an emotional clarity to it, but even showrunner Ronald D. Moore admitted they were making things up as they went along; twisting exciting ideas into shapes that tried to fit the past -- with varying degrees of success. Now, there's nothing categorically wrong with a half-improvised approach to storytelling (it prevents boredom setting in with the creative team, you can react quicker to audience concerns), but I think it's fair to say that BSG could perhaps have done with a unified vision emerging sooner than it did.

"The Plan" is an unashamed way for the BSG team to correct a few storytelling mistakes and oversights with the benefit of retrospection, and generally aims to make the first two seasons feel more cohesive in light of the last two season's sweeping revelations. Fanboys who put the show under a microscope have picked a few too many nits, and now the writers are scratching the resulting itches...

Sandwiched between the scene of "Galactica Cavil" and "Caprica Cavil" (Dean Stockwell) about to be blasted out into space for their crimes (see: "Lay Down Your Burdens"), we jump back in time for a prologue to the introductory mini-series, again witnessing the genocide of humanity by the hand of erstwhile slave 'bots the Cylons, led by the humanoid Number One/Cavil model. Only now we witness intolerant Cavil preparing to insert his skinjob kind's parents ("The Final Five") amongst their beloved humans, programmed to think they're likewise human, as part of a sick moral lesson. If none of this makes sense to you, let me remind you that "The Plan" has been designed for diehard fans. It builds and fleshes out a storyline constructed over six years on television, so this is the worst possible place for a dilettante to start their education.

For the first twenty minutes or so, "The Plan" is an entertaining and marvelous showcase for the special-effects team (the nuking of Caprica is now a ballet of destruction akin to Pearl Harbor-meets-Independence Day), if ultimately window dressing. This revisit allows for some engaging Ying/Yang in how the Cavil aboard Galactica stays focused on ensuring the Cylons wipe out the surviving human "cockroaches", while his counterpart on Caprica comes to the opposite conclusion and eventually becomes the figurehead for a truce.

A few wasted humanoid Cylons from the series also get more screen time, belatedly -- particularly the Simon model (Rick Worthy), one of whom is living aboard Galactica with an adopted wife and child, while another's on Caprica as part of Anders' (Michael Trucco) band of holocaust survivors. We also learn specifics about how Boomer's (Grace Park) sleeper agent status was triggered, that Leoben (Callum Keith Rennie) actually shared Starbuck's visions of the mandala and sensed she had a great destiny, and we get to see a smidgen more of Tory (Rekha Sharma), who became a prominent character in season 4 but was little more than a glorified extra in the early days.

Overall, "The Plan" isn't worthless, but it felt like a superfluous addendum to me. I'm sure there are those who will lap up the canonical trivia and ignore the whiff of revisionism, while others will see it as little more than a clip show with "deleted scenes" reinserted. For me, while a few of the revelations worked well, the plot generally meshed with the old episodes nicely, and it was enjoyable seeing these characters one last time, "The Plan" ultimately felt sluggish and redundant.

George Lucas infamously went back to his Star Wars trilogy and re-released them with shiny new CGI in 1997, and "The Plan" felt like the same kind of "remastering" job has been done on BSG's dense plot. It's of mixed success and narrow appeal, but it'll play well to pernickety fans who gnash their teeth at inconsistencies. But for the majority of easygoing fans, it is what it is: an indulgent hodgepodge of alternate perspectives, impressive effects, retrospective patches, and a handful of impressive scenes from director Edward James Olmos. It's just a shame its good work is smothered by a story robbed of all urgency and relevance because it's merely a different path on a journey already taken.

written by: Jane Espenson directed by: Edward James Olmos starring: Tricia Helfer (Number Six), Grace Park (Boomer), Edward James Olmos (Adama), Callum Keith Rennie (Leoben/Number Two), Kate Vernon (Ellen), Dean Stockwell (Brother Cavil), Rekha Sharma (Tory), Michael Trucco (Anders), Alisen Down (Jean Barolay), Michael Hogan (Tigh), Maya Washington (Sue Shaun), Alex Ferris (Boy), Aaron Douglas (Tyrol), Matthew Bennett (Aaron Doral/Number Five), Colin Corrigan (Nowart), Tiffany Lyndall-Knight (Hybrid), Lymari Nadal (Giana) & Rick Worthy (Simon/Number Four)

EASTBOUND & DOWN 1.6 - "Chapter Six"

2009-11-06T11:25:00.001Z

[SPOILERS] The finale to the six-part Eastbound & Down was adequate, but too predictable; offering nothing as funny or as dramatic as scenes from earlier in the run, although the way it twisted the knife in the final scene was memorable...

Unsurprisingly, "Chapter Six" saw Kenny (Danny McBride) get a chance to return to Major League baseball. A talent scout from Tampa informs him that footage of him pitching his nemesis' eyeball out has become an online sensation, so his team want to capitalize on Kenny's sudden fame and sign him as a player for the new season. Kenny accepts and sets the ball rolling for a money-spinning move to the city, and the rest of the episode consisted of him saying farewell to the apathetic townsfolk, in typically ostentatious and egotistical fashion: best exemplified by him getting Stevie (Steve Little) to set the school fire alarm off, so the students will assemble outside to hear a goodbye speech he's prepared and channeled through his truck's loudspeaker system.

There's also the problem of buxom sweetheart April (Katy Mixon), who has admitted her feelings for Kenny and slept with him, giving her fiancé Principal Cutler (Andrew Daly) a mental breakdown that sees him living rough in the woods and preparing to kill Kenny with chloroform and a handgun. April is torn between the two men in her life (who are such opposites), and Kenny is very disappointed when she decides to stay with staid Cutler, but even more confused that his professional resurrection still isn't enough to get him the girl he loves.

In the end, April came round to the lure of the city lights and agreed to accompany Kenny to Tampa, moments before Kenny receives a call from Tampa's agent withdrawing their offer. To save face in front of his joyous family, Kenny continued with his plan and left town with April by his side, only to ditch her at a gas station and leave town alone -- his dreams shattered, a few bridges burned, and having cruelly dumped sweet April for the second time.

"Chapter Six" had its moments, but it wasn't the big climax I was hoping for. With hindsight, the show reached a mid-series peak with episode 3 and has gradually plateaued out into a show that's not as clever as it thinks it is, not as funny as it wants to be. But it certainly became a lot more likeable than the hateful pilot had me expecting. And, while Kenny never truly reformed his character, he became a touch more grateful toward those who helped him in his time of need, but in a way that was still amusingly selfish and narcissistic.

Overall, Eastbound & Down was a slight misfire as a series, but it had a certain raucous attitude and trashy veneer that made it stand out from the crowd, and I was pleased that McBride softened the repugnant nature of Kenny and turn him into someone vaguely likeable, amusingly blunt, and blissfully unaware of how others see him. More could have been done with his brother's family, and Mixon's character never really convinced me (we never saw any solid reason for her being with Cutler), but there was some intriguing comic characterizations. In particular, I'm still not sure that April chose to leave with Kenny because she loved him, or was just enticed by the glamour. And there was a genuine ache that Kenny didn't risk telling April the truth and seeing if she'd join him on the road. Funny thing is, a part of me thinks he knew she wouldn't...

5 November 2009
FX/FX HD, 10pm

written by: Ben T. Best, Jody Hill & Danny McBride directed by: Jody Hill starring: Danny McBride (Kenny Powers), Katy Mixon (April Buchanon), John Hawkes (Dustin Powers), Andrew Daly (Terrence Cutler), Ben Best (Clegg), Jennifer Irwin (Cassie Powers), Steve Little (Stevie Janowski), Nora Mangrum (Rose Powers), Ethan Alexander McGee (Dustin Jr.), Bo Mitchell (Wayne) & Adam Scott (Pat Anderson)

The Damned United (2009) [Blu-Ray]

2009-11-06T08:30:00.005Z

Adapted from David Peace's bestselling, quasi-biographical tale of football boss Brian Clough's short-lived tenure as manager of Leeds in 1974, The Damned United also marks the latest impersonation for chameleon Michael Sheen, an actor who's made a career out of playing disparate British celebrities; from Prime Minister Tony Blair (The Deal, The Queen) and gay comedian Kenneth Williams (Fantabulosa!), to talk show host David Frost (Frost/Nixon).

It's 1974 and the England football team have failed to quality for the World Cup, resulting in the sacking of manager Alf Ramsey and the hiring of Leeds United supremo Don Revie (Colm Meaney), whose promotion leaves a gap at his club that revered Derby County manager Brian Clough (Sheen) eagerly fills. However, as flashbacks spanning the previous seven years reveal, the relationship between Clough and Revie began on a sour note when Clough's then-lowly Derby hosted Revie's European champs during a FA Cup match in '67, where Revie's Leeds knocked Derby out of the cup and Clough's hospitality was snubbed by their famous visitors.

A passionate, grudgeful man, Clough privately cultivates a profound hatred for Revie and channels his emotions into transforming Derby's fortunes and leading them to top-flight Division 1, with the help of trusted friend and astute assistant manager Peter Taylor (Timothy Spall). However, having successfully turned Derby into a peer of the mighty Leeds, Clough's desire to surpass Revie's achievements by stepping into his shoes runs into trouble; first through the refusal of Taylor (the indubitable brains behind his success) to join him at their former rivals, and then through the realization the Leeds squad are fiercely loyal to his beloved predecessor.

Michael Sheen in "The Damned United": Experience Blu-ray

More character study than sports movie, The Damned United is an entertaining movie that again highlights just how well Sheen can encapsulate the spirit of a person without the need for a pitch-perfect impersonation. His portrayal of Clough is the undisputed reason to watch this movie, as his charming take on the legendary manager is both playful, snide and witty. At heart, it's a buddy movie between Clough and Taylor, where ones character defects and ambition soils a friendship and leads to nothing but misery and professional failure, before reconciliation restores both to even greater glory.

As someone with only a passing knowledge of the real Brian Clough, I'm told there are a great many liberties taken with the facts in both David Peace's novel and this adaptation. Indeed, Clough's surviving relatives have condemned the inaccuracies of the tale being told, and have kept their distance from its marketing. I can't comment directly on any factual errors, but all I can say is that the film presented told a story very well and Sheen appeared to capture what I'd imagined the real Clough to be. Impressionists copy a subject's mannerisms, voice and intonations, but Sheen seems to just absorb their humanity and it's enough to cover any cracks in the mimicry.

It's certainly a movie that occasionally has the feel of an ITV drama (as most of Sheen's biopics tend to, actually –- The Queen even started life as one), but The Damned United still has a certain zip thanks to director Tom Hooper (HBO's John Adams) and his ability to capture the dull browns, grimy terraced houses, and overcast skies we assume every day of '70s Britain was imbued with. He also wisely keeps the matches mostly confined to brief snapshots, or newsreel footage from the era, to get around the fact that football's always been near-impossible to replicate on film with any degree of believability. Hooper's less successful with the pacing of the piece, as the story begins to lose its grip about halfway through and even Sheen's mastery can't keep you as invested in the story as you perhaps were early on.

Overall, The Damned United is a decent bopic blessed with a great performance at its core, but it doesn't really hang together as tightly as it should have. It's not dramatic or funny enough to leave a lasting impression on its audience; it's an assortment of fun scenes and enjoyable characterizations that will entertain football fans and non-fans alike, but it never truly moves.

Colm Meaney in "The Damned United": Experience Blu-ray

BLU-RAY DISC REVIEW

Picture: (1.81:1, 1080P, AVC/H.264/MPEG4) A good transfer with a decent amount of detail and wonderful contrast, with vibrant skin tones. Nice detail and clarity (especially in the scenes set in sunny Brighton), although there are intentionally lots of muggy, dim scenes and the use of archive footage is obviously very gritty.

Sound: (Dolby True HD 5.1, Dolby 5.1 audio description) A decent soundmix with enough dimensionality for a film of its type, but it only really pops to life for the brief footballing sequences.

Extra Features

Commentary: yakker track with director Tom Hooper, actor Michael Sheen and producer Andy Harries.
Deleted Scenes & Commentary from Tom Hooper: nine deleted scenes, supposedly removed because most paint Brian Clough in a more negative light than the movie itself.
Cloughisms: moments taken from archive footage of the real Brian Clough, offering the world five pearls of wisdom that helped define his sharp-witted image.
Perfect Pitch - Making Of: a 16-minute long documentary featuring contributions from director Hooper, writer Peter Morgan, choreographer Simon Clifford, producer Andy Harries, and Sheen and Spall. Mostly amusing for how it reveals the crowd at the stadium scenes were dressed mannequins, but an interesting watch nonetheless.
Creating Clough: 10-minute piece where actor Martin Sheen gives us a quick insight into how he went about capturing Clough's spirit for the film.
Remembering Brian: a nearly 10-minute featurette where the cast/crew pay tribute to the real man behind the movie, which also highlights some of his achievements in the game. Features former players John McGovern and Eddie Gray.
The Changing Game - Football In The Seventies: a documentary just shy of 20-minutes showing us just how the beautiful game has changed since the gritty '70s before multi-million pound transfer deals. Interestingly, it paints the film's "villain" Don Revie in a more benevolent light.
Trailers: promotional trailers for The International, Paul Blart: Mall Cop, Angels & Demons, Terminator Salvation and Year One.

directed by: Tom Hooper written by: Peter Morgan (based on the novel by David Peace) starring: Michael Sheen (Brian Clough), Timothy Spall (Peter Taylor), Maurice Roëves (Jimmy Gordon), Elizabeth Carling (Barbara Clough), Colm Meaney (Don Revie), Henry Goodman (Manny Cussins), Jimmy Reddington (Keith Archer), Liam Thomas (Les Crocker), Danny Tomlinson (David Harvey), Lesley Maylett (Paul Reaney), Chris Moore (Paul Madeley), John Savage (Gordon McQueen), Mark Cameron (Norman Hunter), Tom Ramsbottom (Trevor Cherry), Matthew Storton (Peter Lorimer), Peter McDonald (Johnny Giles), Stephen Graham (Billy Bremner), Bill Bradshaw (Terry Yorath), Stuart Gray (Eddie Gray), Alex Harker (Allan Clarke), Craig Williams (Joe Jordan), Joe Dempsie (Duncan McKenzie), Jim Broadbent (Sam Longson), Brian McCardie (Dave Mackay), Martin Compston (John O'Hare), Colin Harris (John McGovern, Derby), Giles Alderson (Colin Todd), Stewart Robertson (Archie Gemmill), Laurie Rea (Terry Hennessey), Tomasz Kocinski (Roy McFarland), Mark Bazeley (Austin Mitchell), Mark Jameson (Head Groundsman), David Stevenson (Reporter), Nathan Head (Reporter), Chris Wilson (F.A Disciplinary) / BBC Films/Left Bank Pictures/Screen Yorkshire / 97 mins. / £5 million (budget)

DOLLHOUSE 2.4 - "Belonging"

2009-11-05T13:50:00.002Z

[SPOILERS] The final episode before an enforced hiatus, after which the rest of season 2 will be "burned off" in double-bills during December (before the axe surely drops), "Belonging" was a strong episode that again provided ammunition for my belief Dollhouse should have been built around Dichen Lachman...

In season 1's "Needs" we were teased about how Sierra (Lachman) became an "active", and here we're given her full backstory courtesy of writers Maurissa Tancharoen and Jed Whedon. It turns out she was bohemian artist Priya Tsetsang, a woman in an abusive relationship with her boyfriend Dr. Kinnard (Vincent Ventresca), a psychiatrist who provides subjects for the Rossum Corporation's Dollhouse project, who eventually turned Priya into a paranoid schitzophrenic by injecting her with antipsychotics, before handing her over to the Dollhouse.

Topher (Fran Kranz) received Sierra as another of his "play things", curing her mental illness using the imprinting technology, then turning her into one of their L.A actives. In the present, Topher and DeWitt (Olivia Williams) realize the horrific circumstances behind Sierra's admission to the Dollhouse after she starts painting black shapes (signifying "the bad man") while in her tabula rasa state, and try to go against the Rossum Corporation's desire to give Sierra/Priya back to Kinnard permanently, fearing he'll resume his abuse.

This was a marvelously emotional story with more fine performances from Lachman, who got to play three versions of Priya and ensured each was identifiable and not a rehash of characters she's already played on the show. Compare and contrast with Eliza Dushku, whjo mainly relies on changing her outfit. Enver Gjokaj also provided nice support, as Victor and Sierra continued their sweet love story, which is somehow powerful enough to transcend the fact each are regularly erased of their identities.

There was also some great work from Kranz, who is certainly a contentious character because he's ultimately a creepy, amoral geek being used as comic relief -- who begs to be punched everytime he opens his mout. But this episode did a good job of showing us a new facet to him. Indeed, together with the excellent Topher/Saunders scene in "Vows", his character's suddenly becoming a fascinating, twisted condundrum. Here, Topher debvelops a conscience over Sierra's treatment and takes matters into his own hands by imprinting her with a combustible personality before handing her back to Kinnard -- basically ensuring she's better-equipped to defend herself. Indeed, Priya kills Kinnard after he attacks her, and Topher arrives to help and is surprised when Boyd (Harry Lennix) lends a hand in covering up his mess. And has there been a more troubling sight in recent sci-fi than Boyd making Topher dismember Kinnard's dead body in a bath tub and dissolve him with acid?

The only thing denying a higher rating for this episode was the fact its storyline had more holes than a colander. Mainly, I just didn't accept the reason Priya became a doll, as surely after Topher fixed her schitzophrenia she would be sane enough to decide not to become a doll. So why wasn't Priya just returned to Kinnard after her brain repair? Most of the actives are willing subjects because they cant' escape something in the real world (grief, debt), but Priya could very easily have left Kinnard, so it didn't make much sense that the Dollhouse kept her. Indeed, Priya herself actually gets to return to her body and is filled in on what's been going on this past year, and she decides to go back to being Sierra? Why? It wasn't clear to me.

The only subplot involved Boyd realizing Echo (Dushku) is retaining memories, after he finds a book in her sleeping chamber (although he missed the fact she has scrawled notes on the underside of her chamber's lid). Boyd's always been a strange character, as he's partly disgusted by the Dollhouse's operations but also a willing and key cog in the machine. Here it becomes clear that he'll be happy when this place fails, as he tells Echo he realizes her memory wipes are no longer fully effective and, in the final scene, leaves her a keycard to access the facility's entrances as a bookmark in the novel she's reading. It's nice to feel that Boyd and Ballard are both sewing the seeds of the Dollhouse's destruction from the inside, even if this once again makes DeWitt look stupid for employing them.

Overall, it's unfortunate there were so many plot-holes in this episode, as the core of the story was very enjoyable and there were some fantastic performances from Lachman and Kranz in particular. I always enjoy Dollhouse when it's tackling big emotions and asking compelling moral questions of its characters, so this was a perfect episode for that. A shame it didn't hang together that well in the cold light of day, or that they once again wasted a great guest-star (Dexter's Keith Carradine as Rossum exec Matthew Harding), but "Belonging" was still a very good episode with plenty to recommend.

3 November 2009
The Sci-Fi Channel, 10pm

written by: Maurissa Tancharoen & Jed Whedon directed by: Jonathan Frakes starring: Eliza Dushku (Echo), Harry Lennix (Boyd Langton), Fran Kranz (Topher Brink), Enver Gjokaj (Victor), Dichen Lachman (Sierra/Priya Tsetsang), Olivia Williams (Adelle DeWitt), Vincent Ventresca (Nolan Kinnard), Carlease Burke (Pam), Clyde Kusatsu (Dr. Makido), Keith Carradine (Matthew Harding), Andrea Walker (Rich Woman), Alan Pietruszewski (Handler), Natalie Graziano (Attendant) & Sean Solan (Soldier)

V, 1.1 - "Pilot"

2009-11-05T10:30:00.003Z

A valorous, vivifying visitation... or a vicarious, voracious violation?

[SPOILERS] The alien invasion subgenre is always getting reinvented for a new generation, but it's disappointing that so many are pure remakes with snazzier effects and new characters (see: Spielberg's War Of The Worlds.) Based on Kenneth Johnson's 1983 mini-series that spawned a television series, V once again finds enormous spaceships hovering above 29 of the planet's major cities (quite the snub if yours isn't one, eh?), and alien beauty Anna's (Firefly's Morena Baccarin) face is beamed down to the people below with a message of unequivocal peace and salvation. She even has a marketable catchphrase ("we come in peace, always"), but there are those who don't trust these so-called "Visitors"...

Amongst the cynics is tough single mom and FBI agent Eric Evans (Lost's Elizabeth Mitchell), whose teenage son Tyler (Logan Huffman) is contrarily charmed by the ET's -- who immediately setup health clinics to cure a plethora of diseases and invite people to go inside their ships, where he takes a shine to flaxen hottie Lisa (Smallville's Laura Vandervoort). There's also Father Jack Landry (Joel Gretsch), who finds church attendance quadrupling in the wake of alien first contact, but t a sign of unspoken unease and creeping fear. A career-obsessed TV journalist called Chad Decker (Scott Wolf) is chosen to be the "V's" human mouthpiece, pressured into not asking Anna tough questions on live TV in return for the global fame his interviews will bring him.

Meanwhile, Erica and her FBI partner Dale Maddox (Alan Tudyk) investigate a conspicuous terrorist cell whose activity has escalated while all others fell silent, believing they're mobilizing for an attack on the V's themselves. Eric comes to realize there's an active rebellion against the alien visitors, led by a man who claims the V's (actually green reptilian beings behind their human flesh) have been on Earth for decades, infiltrating governments and businesses, and their "arrival" is actually the last step in a plan for world domination.

Everything that makes ABC's new V memorable either has its origin in the '80s series (i.e. the unique elements of its mythology) or elicits a soupcon of excitement as modern-day effects essentially reenact Independence Day on the small-screen. Both aren't strong enough to make this a particularly compelling start to a series, unless you're a rabid fan of the '80s original or just a sucker for anything where glistening spaceships are seen hovering above skyscrapers.

The notable problem with this pilot was pace. It moved too quickly. While I applaud the way the first ten minutes swiftly introduced all the characters before the spaceships promptly arrived (almost killing one churchgoer with a falling crucifix, symbolically?), the rest of the episode rushed through events to a detrimental effect. After just fifteen minutes, we'd already leaped forward in time by three weeks, which was disconcerting and surely wasted dramatic opportunities in slowly revealing the story to us. Perhaps writer Scott Peters was worried people would be bored if he'd taken that path, as he believes everyone's familiar with the V mythos, but I personally don't agree. V's over two decades old and rarely gets repeated on television, so most teenagers watching this pilot would be unfamiliar with the concept and may have enjoyed a tease.

As a result of V's eagerness to press on, there's very little tension in the pilot. Things happened at a rapid pace and none of its developments felt plausible or fully-realized as a result. I mean, where and how did this anti-V underground cell spring from? How do people know the V's are lizards underneath their skin already? Isn't that a surprise it would be worth holding back on for a few more episodes, at least? By the time this episode ended, so much information had been imparted that it felt like I'd seen edited highlights of half the season.

The characters are fairly generic right now, not helped by the fact immediate suspicions or devotion to the V's is never explained. In particular, Father Landy and Erica assume the worst from the start, but it would have been nice to see them slowly come to this conclusion. Again, it felt like a symptom of the producers just wanting to encapsulate everything about V's concept in the opening episode. On those terms, it's a job well done, but where do we go from here? I suspect it'll become Earth: Final Conflict meets The Invaders, but does it have enough in reserve to keep the insurgency interesting, as we're clearly not going to see any real breakthrough in exposing the V's real motivations for years, if V lasts that long.

Overall, I didn't hate V's pilot, but I didn't love it. There are core problems it'll have to overcome to have a long-term future, and I hope it takes its foot off the accelerator in the weeks to come. Still, I love the casting of Mitchell (who balances sensitivity and strength perfectly) and Baccarin (memorable as the disquiteingly perfect alien emissary), while the inadvertent allegory to President Obama (another charming, photogenic diplomat who wants to give people free healthcare) lends it certain amusement if you're of a Republican persuasion. I doubt V '09 will revitalize its cheesy forbearer with the same élan Battlestar Galactica managed with its own '80s template, but I guess we'll see how long the Visitors stick around...

3 November 2009
ABC, 9/8c

written by: Scott Peters (story by Kenneth Johnson & Scott Peters) directed by: Yves Simoneau starring: Elizabeth Mitchell (Erica Evans), Morris Chestnut (Ryan Nichols), Joel Gretsch (Father Jack Landry), Logan Huffman (Tyler Evans), Lourdes Benedicto (Valerie Holt), Laura Vandervoort (Lisa), Morena Baccarin (Anna), Scott Wolf (Chad Decker), Stefan Arngrim (Roy), Crystal Balint (Floor Manager), Marci T. House (FBI Agent), Scott Hylands (Father Travis), Brit Irvin (Haley Stark), Jeremy Jones (National Guardsman), Dejan Loyola (College Kid #1), Craig March (FBI Agent), Phillip Mitchell (Resistance Thug), David Richmond-Peck (Georgie Sutton), Christopher Shyer (Marcus), Alan Tudyk (Dale Maddox), Barbara Tyson (Allison Hall), Jesse Wheeler (Brandon) & Ben Wilkinson (Reporter)

Get ready for a five-day Collision

2009-11-04T15:11:00.002Z

Collision is a five-part drama (airing across consecutive weeknights from 9 November) created by Anthony Horowitz (Stormbreaker) and directed by Marc Evans (My Little Eye). It's about a group of people's lives that intersect after a tragic car accident, and the cast includes: Douglas Henshall (Primeval) and Kate Ashfield (Shaun Of The Dead) as detectives, Paul McGann (Withnail & I) as a millionaire property dealer, Lucy Griffiths (Robin Hood) as a personal assistant, Dean Lennox Kelly (Shameless) and Craig Kelly (Coronation Street) as shady brothers, David Bamber (Rome) as a teacher, Claire Rushbrook (New Tricks), and Phil Davis (Whitechapel).

The premise sounds interesting, if broadly similar to Lost's setup (a big disaster bringing disparate characters together), but it's the excellent cast that has my attention. I never liked dour Douglas Henshall in Primeval, but he'll hopefully fare better in a more realistic scenario; it'll be a treat to have Lucy Griffiths back on our screens again (and draw in the Robin Hood fans, I'm betting); it's about time Paul McGann started turning up in primetime regularly; and I always enjoy what David Bamber and Phil Davis bring to a production.

It's another ITV drama worth getting excited about! What's happening to the world? Collision hits screens on Monday 9 November and there's a new episode every night on ITV1 @9pm until Friday 13 November.

V's showrunner replaced

2009-11-04T14:41:00.002Z

I'm hoping to have a review of ABC's V remake up later this week, but there's interesting news that showrunner Scott Peters has stepped down from his role. He'll be replaced by Scott Rosenbaum, hitherto an executive-producer on NBC's Chuck. V has been the subject of creative problems in recent months, resulting in a forced hiatus after the first four episodes until next spring. The question is: are those four episodes good enough to keep people loyal into 2010?

HEROES 4.8 - "Once Upon A Time In Texas"

2009-11-04T13:29:00.003Z

[SPOILERS] Heroes literally goes back to its heyday with "Once Upon A Time In Texas", an episode that desperately tried to resurrect some of its old magic, but which ultimately fell flat despite a smattering of enjoyable moments and a winning performance from Masi Oka...

As part of his "bucket list" to right some wrongs before he dies of a brain tumour, Hiro (Oka) travels backs in time by three years, arriving at the Burnt Toast diner in Odessa, Texas. There he intends to defeat Sylar (Zachary Levi), who famously added perky waitress Charlie (Jayma Mays) to his list of victims back when he was a brain-eating enigma with a penchant for baseball caps. As previous time-hopping adventures have proven, it proves to be a difficult temporal knot for Hiro to undo, as saving Charlie's life will forever alter the timeline (something already explored during the storyline this episode revisited), and she's destined to die of a brain aneurism anyway. It appears the only person able to perform life-saving surgery on Charlie is Sylar, the man who wants her dead so he can steal her photographic memory. Can Hiro trust Sylar to help by promising the killer knowledge of the future?

Okay, it sounds like an interesting story with some fun (if overused) temporal dilemmas on paper, but it just felt too retrograde visiting the first season in this fashion. This was Heroes' own Back To The Future: Part II, in many ways; entertaining and diverting, but intrinsically parasitic. Any new information we gleamed about the characters was barley worth the effort, beyond the fact Mr. Bennet (Jack Coleman) was revealed to have been having an affair with colleague Danielle Savre (Elisabeth Röhm) -- who felt so bad about it that she had her memories erased by the Haitian, a la Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind. Considering the fact Bennet's separated from his wife in 2009, I assume this is a means for the writers to have Bennet resume his interest in Danielle when the plot returns to the present.

Give the episode's title, it came as no surprise that "Once Upon A Time In Texas" contained nods to Westerns -- mainly through Hiro's strange decision to disguise himself with a white cowboy stetson, an alleyway "quickdraw" duel between Hiro and Sylar (complete with a whistling soundtrack), and an embarrassing cowboy impression from the cheerful time-traveller. For all its goofiness, at least Heroes can still do goofy.

Thankfully, there was a stronger presence in Samuel (Robert Knepper) to alleviate the frivolity, who has grown impatient waiting for Hiro to join his carnival of his own accord because he needs the services of a time-traveller now. So, the Irish carnival barker was sent back in time by his own ailing master of the Space/Time continuum to warn Hiro against changing the past. Hiro was initially receptive to the advice of the "buttlerfly man" who inspired this humanitarian mission in the first place, but after Hiro succeeds in keeping Charlie alive and the timeline intact, Samuel kidnaps the redhaired waitress and hides her somewhere in Space and Time. Now, the only way for Hiro to find his true love is to help Samuel change his own personal history, as a flashback to eight weeks prior shows him standing over the dead body of... Mohinder (Sendhil Ramamurthy)

Overall, "Once Upon A Time In Texas" washed over me for the most part, although it was nice to see the delightful Mays again and I liked how Hiro is being blackmailed into helping Samuel. The reveal that Samuel's transgressions would turn his family against him, and somehow involves Mohinder*, was also interesting and further proof that the carnival element has actually been seson 4's biggest success. It's just a shame the storylines Samuel occasionally bleeds into are fairly bland and lack a sense of urgency.

I guess your response to this episode will be largely informed by your affection for Hiro/Charlie as a couple, and your tolerance for the writers brazenly basking in the afterglow of a time when Heroes was -- briefly -- the topic of conversation on everyone's lips.

2 November 2009
NBC, 9/8c

written by: Aron Eli Coleite & Aury Wallington directed by: Nate Goodman starring: Jack Coleman (Mr. Bennet), James Kyson Lee (Ando), Masi Oka (Hiro), Hayden Panettiere (Claire), Zachary Quinto (Sylar), Jayma Mays (Charlie Andrews), Robert Knepper (Samuel Sullivan), Dawn Olivieri (Lydia), Sendhil Ramamurthy (Mohinder), Elisabeth Röhm (Danielle Savre) & Candace Smith (Miss Roberts)

* I sincerely hope they have a good reason for bringing Mohinder back. It was awkward how he just vanished from the narrative with no explanation, but his character was so moribund that nobody cared. Let's just hope his return doesn't mean more pretencious voice-overs are in order...

CHUCK 2.22 - "Chuck Versus The Ring"

2009-11-04T10:50:00.003Z

[SPOILERS] While I didn't find this as emotionally satisfying at last week's "... The Colonel" -- probably because I've never really cared about Ellie (Sarah Lancaster) and Awesome (Ryan McPartlin) as a couple -- the finale was likewise stuffed with fun moments and great action. It was a huge celebration of a much-improved season that, praise be, won itself a third year thanks to an imaginative Save Chuck campaign. Given the progress and alterations made to the format by the time the credits rolled (not to mention a "To Be Continued..." legend), it would have been a crime had it ended here.

Ellie (Sarah Lancaster) and Awesome (Ryan McPartlin) are about to be wed, and Chuck (Zachary Levi) is preparing for a new life away from the spy game now the Intersect has been erased from his mind, and the confidence he's been given as a result of his double life inspires him to quit his job at the Buy More and ask Sarah (Yvonne Strahovski) to go on a romantic break with him. Having received a hefty pay-packet from the government for services rendered, can life get any better for our hero geek? No, but they can get a whole lot worse...

Ted Roark (Chevy Chase) returns, having survived the air strike on his underground base last week, and puts the Bartowski/Woodcomb wedding in jeopardy by threatening to kill the bride unless Chuck hand over the CIA's Intersect. Faced with this impossible situation, Chuck's forced to have Morgan (Joshua Gomez) stall the nuptials by introducing "Jeffster!" as pre-ceremony entertainment, as bridesmaid Sarah tries to defeat Roark's men using a knife gift set, and Chuck leaves an emergency message for the now reassigned Casey (Adam Baldwin)...

While there was arguably less plot stitching "... The Ring" together than last week, it was a constant stream of enjoyable sequences and affecting scenes. The attack on Roark's henchmen by Casey's parachuting Special Forces squad, destroying the dining hall intended for the wedding reception and setting off the water sprinklers (to the accompaniment of Jeffster's "Mr Roboto"), was a series highlight in terms of pure, enjoyable action. The fact Roark was defeated so soon was a neat twist of expectation, as the majority of the episode consequently became less predictable than I feared going in, although I still feel that Chevy Chase was wasted by being given such a thin character to play.

The return of Bryce Larkin (Matthew Bomer) was slightly too abrupt for my liking, but his arrival again forced Sarah to make a tough decision: stick with her beloved career and resume her role as Bryce's globetrotting CIA partner, or see where a normal life as Chuck's girlfriend will lead. If there's one thing I'm continually frustrated about, it's how Sarah never seems quite as sure about her feelings for Chuck as Chuck does for her. I understand that she has a fulfilling career to think about (unlike Chuck), and the series can't afford to have things run too smoothly between them for dramatic reasons, but Sarah's constant doubts can get exasperating -- especially as she couldn't hide behind her professional capacity in this episode.

Interestingly, after Chuck called in some CIA favours and used his salary to make Ellie's dream of a beach wedding a reality, the show started to make other welcome changes to its configuration. A double-agent was revealed to be part of Casey's squad, but working for a new enemy who are part of something called "The Ring", a group that later kidnap Bryce (believing he's the human Intersect), and take him to a secret Fulcrum building to download the secrets in his brain. Luckily, it's revealed that Chuck's dad (Scott Bakula) has a proto-Intersect in his head that flashes on the man who took Bryce and he manages to get word to Chuck, Sarah and Casey for a swift rescue mission.

Second of Strahoness: Beach babe; courtesy Strahotski.com

The big talking point for Chuck fans will undoubtedly be the final five minutes, with Chuck using his dad's tech-gauntlet to locate a fatally wounded Bryce in the Fulcrum Intersect room, and deciding to download the government's secrets into his brain and destroy the hardware, essentially embracing his destiny as a hero. Then, as the room filled with a half-dozen enemy agents, a new facet of Intersect 3.0 was revealed when Chuck remotely downloaded the skills of a martial artist and effortlessly disabled a gang of professional killers, before paraphrasing The Matrix with his final line: "guys; I know kung fu." I defy you not to have a grin on your face at this point.

"Chuck Versus The Ring" was another fine example of how entertaining and compelling this show can be when it tries. It still has rough spots, I've been disappointed by a few aspects this year (like the wasted Big Mike/Bolonia courtship), and I still don't see the appeal of the Buy More, but this episode definitely has the potential to springboard season 3 into fresh territory. Will Chuck's array of skills turn him into a lethal weapon and master-of-all-trades? Probably not, as that would deny us the central conceit of an affable geek thrown into the world of espionage. My guess is that Chuck's new skills will come with caveats (a cap on how often he can "download" abilities, or a serious downside to overuse), or possible it just won't work very reliably. I don't think they'd make the mistake of turning Chuck into Jake 2.0, do you?

But what about the Buy More? Casey, Chuck and Morgan have quit, so is this the ideal opportunity to transplant those characters into a different working environment? Or is the Buy More too integral to the makeup of the show, despite my own simmering dislike for it? Plus we also have the fact Awesome (okay, I'll call him Devon from now on) knows Chuck's secret, so it'll be fun seeing how that dynamic plays out week to week. The death of Bryce wasn't unexpected (not least because Bomer's now starring in White Collar), and it actually felt overdue because his role didn't really have anywhere left to go.

Overall, "... The Ring" was tremendous entertainment, only marginally let down by Roark's general uselessness and the fact I personally find it hard to care about Ellie and Devon, whose marriage provided the episode's emotional heartbeat. A special mention must go to director Robert Duncan McNeill, who did a fantastic job marshalling what appeared to be a very tricky episode. Chuck's not known for its action sequences, but the dining room shootout and the "Chuck-fu" sequence rank as some of the best such moments in the show's history, and McNeill also ensured the quieter, emotional moments weren't crushed under the weight of everything else -- Chuck's heart breaking when Sarah turned him down, Ellie sobbing in the bath, Bryce's death scene, all were handled very well.

As the announcer said as the credits rolled, Chuck will return to Virgin1 in the new year, so I'm hoping this means the UK will only be days/weeks behind NBC in the States. The delay for British fans has been too much to ask for many, so I'm hoping Virgin will find Chuck gets a ratings boost as a result of their alacrity.

3 November 2009
Virgin1, 9pm

written by: Chris Fedak & Allison Adler directed by: Robert Duncan McNeill starring: Zachary Levi (Chuck), Yvonne Strahovski (Sarah), Adam Baldwin (Casey), Joshua Gomez (Morgan), Scott Krinsky (Jeff), Vik Sahay (Lester), Bonita Friedericy (General Beckman), Tony Hale (Emmett), Ryan McPartlin (Captain Awesome), Sarah Lancaster (Ellie), Mark Christopher Lawrence (Big Mike), Scott Bakula (Steve Bartowski), Julia Ling (Anna), Chevy Chase (Ted Roark), Morgan Fairchild (Honey Woodcomb), Bruce Boxleitner (Dr. Woody Woodcomb), Tug Coker (Miles), Patricia Rae (Bolonia Grimes), Matthew Bomer (Bryce Larkin), Yolanda Snowball (Justice Of The Peace), April Betts (Bridesmaid), Jason Gray (Ominous Agent #1), Adam Rizzieri (Bartender) & Evan Shafran (Buy More Customer)

STRICTLY COME DANCING 7 – Week 7

2009-11-03T20:09:00.003Z

Ola's why I stay in most Saturday nights. Now that's a dress, Cheryl Cole...

Is Strictly still on? This hasn't been a good series, has it. Even diehard fans must admit that SCD's been sunk this year by too much distracting controversy, behind-the-scenes racism, and terrible scheduling from the BBC. You don't even have a chance to vote if you're watching on time-delay, as you could when the result show was on Sunday. There's even gossip that many of the celebs aren't putting in the effort this year, as the stats for rehearsal hours are significantly down on last year. Meanwhile, The X Factor is widening the gap to record-breaking levels over on ITV – 15m to Strictly's 8m. I'd ordinarily suggest a big revamp next year, but that's kinda what they were aiming to do this year, and look where it's gotten them...

Natalie Cassidy & Vincent Simone

Jive: Totally unsexy and Natalie's facial expressions are beginning to bug me now, but she's admittedl one of the few celebs that actually seems to enjoy every second out on the dance floor.

Zoe Lucker & James Jordan

Samba: With a tiny dress resembling a leaf (something a teenage Tinkerbell might wear, perhaps), this was another fun and saucy performance from Zoe. Slender body, lovely long legs, smiley and fun with some hip grinding thrown in.

Craig Kelly & Flavia Cacace

Waltz: I really hate the waltz. It just looks so pretensious and dull to me. And for someone like Flavia it means she generally wears long, boring ballgowns. It's like throwing a towel over a Mona Lisa!

Ricky Groves & Erin Boag

Rumba: Phewee. Hot and steamy antipodean loveliness, as Erin makes a play to the next Bond Girl in dancing to "License To KilL". Sexy little black dress, very stylish, semi-transparent skirt, hair down and looking great.

Laila Rouass & Anton Du Beke

Waltz: Again, yawn. Sorry, Laila's a beautiful woman, but these ballroom dances are fast-forward material. Thank God for Virgin+.

Phil Tufnell & Katya Virshilas

Tango: Sexily aggressive dance from Katya (check out those karate kicks at the start!) and she certainly put across the attitude. Not hugely attractive once it settled down, but not bad.

Ricky Whittle & Natalie Lowe

Quickstep: After weeks wowing us, Natalie was due a potentially dull dance, and the quickstep never gets me excited. But Natalie just about made it bearable in a snow white dress going well with her Scandinavian blonde locks.

Jade Johnson & Ian Waite

Foxtrot: Another fairly dull offering, really. I'm a Latin dance man, clearly. Still, Jade looked pretty glitzy.

Ali Bastian & Brian Fortuna

Paso Doble: Lots of entertainment and blood-pumping fun here, as Ali tore up the dance floor – open-backed dress, skirt slashed up to the waist, lots of drama and passion. Good fun.

Chris Hollins & Ola Jordan

Cha Cha Cha: Ola's catsuit from series 6 went down in SCD history, so here came its red-hot sister. Yes, you can't really beat seeing Ola dancing to a sexy disco tune in a body-hugging catsuit, swirling her hips with enough energy to power every home in the country. There's a reason they leave her till last on the show. Bliss.

The Result

A controversial dance-off, with favourites Ali & Brian versus popular Zoe & James. I'd have kept Ali, which is exactly what happened – but it was a shame to lose Zoe. She didn't really deserve that at all. But there you go.

FLASHFORWARD 1.6 - "Scary Monsters And Super Creeps"

2009-11-03T14:20:00.001Z

[SPOILERS] Unsurprisingly, the title was more exciting than anything contained in the episode itself, but "Scary Monsters And Super Creeps" at least dished up some notable developments, introduced a fresh clue, and provided our first solid lead about who (and possibly what) caused the global blackout...

FlashForward has a high-concept premise and a season-long goal it feels unwise to reach beyond, where the protagonists progress the story by acting on obscure clues. Ring any bells? Yes, it shares DNA with Prison Break in terms of technique, so it feels only right that a refugee from that defunct show, Seth Hoffman, co-wrote this episode with a veteran director from the same stable, Bobby Roth, behind the camera.

Following the inciting, climactic events of last week's two-pronged attack on our FBI agents by Chinese assailants, this episode doesn't follow through on the promise shown. Still, it thankfully didn't feel like a totally wasted hour because a handful of situations proved diverting. Janis (Christine Woods) was rushed to hospital with a gunshot wound, which she barely managed to survive, and after a relapse Olivia (Sonya Walger) is forced to take desperate measures that results in making it near-impossible for Janis to ever conceive children. Of course, this provides us with the paradox that Janis' flashforward showed her heavily pregnant and undergoing an ultrasound scan, so the show is again toying with the faith we've placed in these future visions. That's getting old now, but I don't see them settling on a definite answer until the last quarter of this season at the earliest.

The overarching investigation took a small step forward with Demetri (John Cho) noting a "blue hand" tattoo on one of the Chinese men who attacked them, which led him to follow similar symbols stuck to street signs around the city, eventually leading to a house containing dead bodies, one of which had a blue hand. Again, interesting in some respects, but knowing the mountain we're going to be climbing means I can't get too excited about what the investigation turns up until it starts paying off significantly, or a bigger picture starts to take shape. It's all just random names, symbols and phrases right now.

We also met the probable perpetrator of the blackout, self-proclaimed "genius quantum physicist" Simon (Dominic Monaghan), who's first seen flirting with a sexy woman* aboard a speeding night train -- feeding her cheesy lines that "explain" the reason behind the flashforward. Like the party game, everything Simon says should be approached with caution, I feel. It's too early to take anything he says at face value; he could be lying outright, or embellishing the truth to make himself look more important than he really is. But it's probably worth speculating on Simon's link to quantum physics and his explanation of the Schrödinger's Cat thought experiment...

Both pieces of information appear to offer a valid perspective on the science that may have caused the blackout. Schrödinger's Cat is a popular thought experiment where a hypothetical cat's death inside a sealed box from random poisoning can only be determined by opening the box and viewing the cat inside -- so, in one sense, the cat is both alive and dead inside the box until an observer looks to see. There's an interpretation of the problem by Hugh Everett where he suggests both states of the cat exist in separate parallel universes: one universe where the observer sees a dead cat, one where the cat is seen still alive. Applying some of this to FlashForward's premise, were the visions merely glimpses of an alternate universe's future -- meaning our universe will follow a very similar path, but events will alter in light of this foreknowledge? Anyway, I suggest you Google quantum physics if you have some time to spare and enjoy trying to decipher sci-fi shows in-between episodes.

There was also a very uncomfortable gathering at the Benford residence on Halloween night, as autistic Dylan Simcoe (Ryan Wynott) sneaked out of hospital and crossed town on a bus to walk in as if he's lived there for months. Of course, Dylan and Charlie Benford (Lennon Wynn) both know each other via their flashforwards, and Dylan feels at ease enough to treat the Benford house as his own home. We know that his father Lloyd (Jack Davenport) appeared in Olivia's vision as her new fancy man, so it seems clear that the Simcoe's will move in with Olivia next year. But none of this explains the level of comfortable trust between Dylan and Charlie, who have surely only "known" each other for 2 minutes 17 seconds, yet treat each other as siblings.

Is that just a lapse in FlashForward's logic, or were their visions more powerful somehow? There's also a disparity in that Charlie warned her dad about the mysterious "D. Gibbons" (supposedly a frightening man she knows from her flashforward), but there was no sign of any such person in the Dylan/Charlie vision. Is this another regrettable oversight from the writers, or is there more to discover about the exact nature of these flashforwards, or how certain people experience them? For instance, is it significant that Lloyd's autistic? Or that both are prepubescent?

Anyway, it was good to see the Olivia/Mark/Lloyd situation out in the open, after Lloyd tracked his son to the Benford's home and recognized the living room from his own future vision. Olivia also confronted Mark (Joseph Fiennes) about his alcoholism later, and he finally admitted he was drunk in his flashforward, so I'm glad all these secrets are exposed and can be tackled. Indeed, there was the vague sense that this episode heralded the end of FlashForward's initial arc, and we can now push on with the "blue hand" gang, the political facet introduced last week, and Simon's enigma. Speaking of the latter, the British physicist eventually arrived in L.A to speak with Lloyd, and Lloyd is still coming across as a genuinely regretful partner of Simon's. Have we been told what Lloyd's occupation is yet? If not, don't be surprised if it's physics related.

It's still an awkward show in a great many ways, and initial excitement over the premise is beginning to wane now. The writers are between a rock and a hard place -- withhold information and audiences grow tired with the stalling, reveal too much and the core mystery is drained of its appeal.

2 November 2009
Five, 9pm

written by: Seth Hoffman & Quinton Peebles directed by: Bobby Roth starring: Joseph Fiennes (Agent Mark Benford), John Cho (Agent Demetri Noh), Brian F. O'Byrne (Aaron Stark), Courtney B. Vance (Agent Stanford Wedeck), Sonya Walger (Dr. Olivia Benford), Christine Woods (Janis Hawk), Dominic Monaghan (Simon), Lennon Wynn (Charlie Benford), Cynthia Addai-Robinson (Debbie), James DiStefano (Ernesto), Jason Duplissea (Dad), Stacy Hall (Security Guard), Curtis Harris (Kid #2), Ashley Jones (Camille), Rachael Lee (Trick or Treat Neighbour), Jonathan Levit (Dewey), Vinicius Machado (Gang Member), William F. Nicol (Masked Figure), Will Poston (Bartender), Amy Rosoff (Marcie Turoff), Robbie Tucker (Kid #1), Ryan Wynott (Dylan Simcoe) & Lee Thompson Young (Agent Al Gough)

* You know the face? It's Ashley Jones, recently seen playing barmaid Daphne in True Blood's second season.

DEXTER 4.6 - "If I Had A Hammer"

2009-11-03T10:25:00.002Z

[SPOILERS] Interestingly, this was the directorial debut of Romeo Tirone (the show's cinematographer, who also works on True Blood), and "If I Had A Hammer" definitely leaned more on the visual than the aural -- given this episode's noticeable lack of Daniel Licht's enveloping score, which felt discombobulating. While episode 6 thus had a curious feel to it, it only engaged when dealing with Dexter's (Michael C. Hall) undercover investigation of the Trinity Killer, family man Arthur Mitchell (John Lithgow)...

It's an old complaint that I'm getting sick of hearing myself, but the show continues to droop whenever it leaves Dexter's sphere of influence. Primarily, LaGuerta (Lauren Velez) and Angel's (David Zayas) office romance reached a nadir of flimsy storytelling, and then had the discourtesy to have both characters annul their romance so they could both remain in the homicide department. I'm sure the story's not over yet (they won't be able to keep their hands off each other and get caught by Captain Matthews, right?), but it's nearly impossible to find those two a compelling couple -- even though both characters are individually quite sympathetic and likeable.

Ignoring all that, the real focus of the episode was on Dexter's fractious marriage and his examination of Arthur Mitchell's comparatively effortless home life. As a fellow serial-killer with an credulous family, who's been successfully killing people for 30 years, Arthur's clearly someone Dex can learn a thing or two from. He gets closer to Trinity by posing as a recently-divorced man called "Kyle Butler" and joins the church building project Arthur spearheads -- just one of many philanthropic services he carries out in his community. Dex becomes fascinated with how Arthur manages to hide in plain sight: exemplified by a home visit where Dex realizes Arthur's "trophies" are the construction plaques he hangs on his wall from every successful build (which are also cities and towns he performs his ritual three kills) and he's confident enough to hang his titular murder weapon on display.

The reasons behind Arthur's odd methodology is also revealed when Dex finds DNA at the hotel murder scene (a spot of cremated human body mixed with saliva stuck to a wall), that Masuka (C.S Lee) identifies as being a blood relative of the suspect. This led Dex to look into Arthur's past and discover that his 16-year-old sister was murdered in a bathtub, his mother jumped off a building, and his father was bludgeoned to death –- so it appears he's been re-enacting these familial tragedies himself all this years. Pretty sick stuff and, while I'm not sure if there's a real psychological precedent for such impulses, likewise Dexter hacks people up because he saw his mother being chain-sawed to death as a kid, so both killers are very much the product of tragic childhoods.

It was also fascinating to see Dexter try and repair his marriage to Rita (Julie Benz), who like all good Americans books them in to see a therapist posthaste. This season has done a good job reminded us how alien Dexter feels around people and how tricky he can find personal interactions, something that felt lost in season 3. Here, Dex genuinely lacks the ability to even talk to Rita about his feelings (he's only garrulous in his mind's voice-over), mainly because he doesn't really perceive any problem, and doesn't know how to go about alleviating his wife's concerns without losing ground himself. So he turns to buying everyone expensive gifts, before just paraphrasing Arthur's insights into relationships and finding those words surprisingly successful.

In fact, Rita comes to realize she knew she married a man with a secretive nature and a need for private space, so she ends up giving Dexter a lockable storage container to keep his apartment's stuff (including his trophy blood slides, still hidden in the air vent.) In his own way, Dex is a step closer to being "open" to Rita and the kids about his peculiarities and urges, but it's still covered in a layer of misunderstanding to protect himself. I also found it interesting that Dex now has sanctuary in adult life not dissimilar to the blood-soaked shipping container he was rescued from by Harry -- it gave his progress the feel of an ouroboros.

The only other subplot of interest belonged to Deb (Jennifer Carpenter), perhaps the only regular character who can shoulder a storyline that doesn't send you to sleep. Here, the grieving 'tec considered lying about seeing the dead Vacation Killer's partner-in-crime Nikki, shortly before Lundy was killed, as a shortcut to the justice she thinks Lundy is owed. However, after a tense and emotional visit to Nikki in jail, Deb begins to believe the girl's story that they weren't responsible for Lundy's murder, and makes the breakthrough that perhaps her beloved Fed was killed by the "ghost" he'd arrived in Miami to chase...

Overall, "If I Had A Hammer" was a confident character-building episode from writer Lauren Gussis that parted Trinity's veil of mystery to a significant extent. Considering the fact we're only halfway through the season, it'll be interesting to see where the writers take things from here. Deb is several steps behind Dexter's private investigation, but she'll surely be onto Arthur Mitchell before too long.

And there's still the simmering subplot that she's close to finding the connection between her father Harry and informant Laura Moser (a.k.a the Ice Truck Killer and Dexter's mother), and I predict she'll realize her brother's heritage as a mini cliffhanger for season 5. There's also the question of what Dexter plans to do with Arthur now; he's a certainty for Dexter's kill table because he fits the code and injured his sister, but how long will Dex pose as Kyle Butler to learn from this prudent elder? And will he perhaps risk revealing his own "Dark Passenger" in an effort to make a truer connection to the real Arthur Mitchell?

1 November 2009
Showtime, 9/8c

written by: Lauren Gussis directed by: Romeo Tirone starring: Michael C. Hall (Dexter Morgan), Julie Benz (Rita Bennett), Jennifer Carpenter (Debra Morgan), Desmond Harrington (Det. Joey Quinn), Lauren Vélez (Lt. Maria Laguerta), David Zayas (Sgt. Angel Batista), James Remar (Harry Morgan), Preston Bailey (Cody), Julia Campbell (Sally Simmons), Brando Eaton (Jonah Mitchell), Courtney Ford (Christine Hill), John Lithgow (Arthur Mitchell) & Vanessa Marano (Rebecca Simmons)

WHITE COLLAR 1.2 - "Threads"

2009-11-02T12:45:00.001Z

[SPOILERS] Not for the first time, the episode immediately succeeding a fun pilot proves to be a slight let-down. "Threads" found some form towards the end, but there was definitely something lacking in how it went about things...

Agent Burke (Tim DeKay) and his department are on the tail of renowned Israeli counterfeiter Ghovat/"The Ghost" (Carlo Rota), after a model for NYC's Fashion Week witnessed him killing a business associate. At Caffrey's (Matthew Bomer) suggestion, they throw a luxuriant party on a terrace to lure Ghovat out into the open, suspecting he's in town to make an important sale.

The main reason I lost patience with "Threads" was because the storyline didn't interest me, and there wasn't much in the Burke/Caffrey dynamic that appealed this week. If Caffrey's supposed to be a superlative hustler, we really need to see it; all he does here is suggest a few ker-azy ideas, pick a pocket, and demonstrate a way to jam someone's cell phone from triggering plastique explosives. I really need something more enthralling than that if I'm to get excited by the idea of a successful Fed and a brilliant conman working together.

Still, there was a plausible way to get Burke's wife Elizabeth (Tiffani Thiessen) involved in the story (she planned the party designed to attract Ghovat); the plot thickened regarding Caffrey's runaway girlfriend, who left him a secret clue to her whereabouts during their last meeting in prison, which Caffrey notices after getting hold of the security tape from Burke; and two new cast additions have potential -- James Rebhorn as Burke's plain-speaking boss who dislikes Cafferty, and The Middleman's Natalie Morales as Agent Lauren Cruz (effectively a heterosexual replacement for Marsha Thomason's lesbian Fed from the pilot, who can wear some slinky dresses and flirt with Cafferty.) She'll hopefully get more to do soon and look a tad more plausible in the role, considering she's rake thin but had no problem taking down some brawny bad guys. And it's a hangover from her days on The Middleman, but Morales' presence still has me waiting for her to utter sarcastic pop-culture quips.

Overall, this is still a young show learning to walk, so we can cut White Collar some slack for now. I just hope they give Caffrey more opportunities to impress us with his tricks and knowledge, and the stories are as developed as the pilot's was. It seems likely White Collar won't stretch far beyond Psych or Monk levels of complexity, though, in which case I'll probably drop out unless they build Burke/Cafferty into a duo worth watching despite its toothless nature.

30 October 2009
USA Network, 10/9c

written by: Clifton Campbell directed by: Dennie Gordon starring: Matthew Bomer (Neal Caffrey), Tim DeKay (Peter Burke), Natalie Morales (Agent Lauren Cruz), Kim Shaw (Juliana),Willie Garson (Mozzie), Tiffani Thiessen (Elizabeth Burke), Sharif Atkins (Jones), Carlo Rota (Ghovat), Kent Davis (Christian), Mike DiGiacinto (Barelli's Driver), Natalia Klimas (Brigette), Heidi Kristoffer (Claire) & James Schram (Itailian Naval Officer)

HUNG 1.3 - "Strange Friends, or The Truth Is You're Sexy"

2009-11-02T10:35:00.003Z

[SPOILERS] After a decent pilot and a good second episode, this third instalment didn't really click with me. Right now I'm concerned that, beyond the enjoyment of seing Ray (Thomas Jane) get it on with "clients" as a fledgling gigolo, there's not too much to entertain me elsewhere...

In "Strange Friends, or The Truth Is You're Sexy", Ray locks horns with his irksome neighbour Howard (Loren Lester) over him peeing in a lake, after he calls the cops about his indecent behaviour. His pimp Tanya (Jane Adams) also starts to doubt her abilities when their first client Lenore (Rebecca Creskoff) refuses to pay and maxes out Ray's credit cards she stole from his wallet. We also visit Ray's ex-wife Jessica (Anne Heche) who buys an arthritic, sickly dog and through her compassion makes a connection with her kids.

I think my issue with Hung right now is that I'm not really sure the premise can go anywhere interesting. It's ready-made to amuse people, but can it really grip? I'm not particularly interested in Ray's estranged family, and the only relationship of interest is between Ray and Tanya as business partners navigating their way through this unusual enterprise. Theirs is a fun dynamic and both actors are great, but there's not much of a strong storyline linking everything together yet. It's all baby steps right now, and I need something a bit more compelling to keep me tuning in every week. It's quirky, it's neatly written, but it hasn't really grabbed me dramatically.

By the episode's end, Lenore has apparently taken pity on mousy Tanya and agrees to spread the word about Ray's services as a "happiness consultant" (claiming she only stole his cash as commission), and Ray appears to be plotting a way to get back at his shit-stirring neighbour, by flirting with his sexy wife Yael (Alanna Ubach) using a provocative message hidden in Tanya's lyric cookies he offers the Koontz's as a peace offering. Good job Howard didn't eat them, eh?

Overall, I'm going to stick with Hung for awhile longer. I really like Jane and Adams as performers and the premise is amusing enough to keep my interest for now, but I need a more definite sense of direction and drama. Quirkiness is fine in a show, but there's only so much I can take before I start looking for solid story and a real sense of purpose to the material. And I keep asking myself: it's certainly amusing, but how compelling can the life of an upstart man-whore be? Hung has yet to show me.

29 October 2009
More4, 10pm

written by: Dmitry Lipkin & Colette Burson directed by: Scott Ellis starring: Thomas Jane (Ray Drecker), Jane Adams (Tanya Skagle), Eddie Jemison (Ronnie Haxon), Charlie Saxton (Damon Drecker), Sianoa Smit-McPhee (Darby Drecker), Anne Heche (Jessica Haxon), Rebecca Creskoff (Lenore), Sonya A. Avakian (Officer Rowan), Steve Hytner (Floyd Gerber), Loren Lester (Howard Koontz) & Alanna Ubach (Yael Koontz)

TV Picks: 2-8 November 2009

2009-11-02T08:30:00.005Z

Pick of the Week: "Comedy Showcase" – Channel 4, Fri @10pm

As always, here are my picks of the best stuff British television is debuting this week:

MONDAY 2nd

Michael Jackson's Private Home (Sky1, 7pm) Four-part documentary looking at many of Jacko's homes.
Into The Storm (BBC2, 8.30pm) Drama-documentary sequel to The Gathering Storm following Winston Churchill's rise to power.
Battlestar Galactica (Sci-Fi, 9pm) Re-run of the award-winning sci-fi drama from beginning to end. Stars Edward James Olmos, Tricia Helfer, Mary McDonnell & Jamie Bamber.

TUESDAY 3rd

The F Word (Channel 4, 9pm) Return of the culinary entertainment show. Hosted by Gordon Ramsay.
Ross Kemp Remembers Gang (Sky1, 9.30pm) The actor-turned-documentary filmmaker reminisces about his experiences in Kenya.
Breaking Bad (Five USA, 11pm) The hit US drama about a terminally ill chemistry teacher who becomes a druglord to provide for his family comes to a wider audience. Stars Bryan Cranston.

WEDNESDAY 4th

Spooks (BBC1, 9pm) Series 8 of the spy thriller.
The Family (Channel 4, 9pm) Series 2 of the documentary series following a British family's lives.
The Noughties - Was That It? (BBC3, 9pm) Two-part look back at the past decade.

THURSDAY 5th

Cutting Edge: The Boy Who Sailed The World (Channel 4, 9pm) Documentary about a 14-year-old boy who crossed the Atlantic single-handed in a boat.
Wonderland: I Won University Challenge (BBC2, 9.45pm) Documentary about past winners of the notoriously difficult university quiz show.

FRIDAY 6th

Comedy Showcase (Channel 4, 10pm) Series 2 of the comedy pilot season, where the most popular weekly pilots could become full-blown shows (as Plus One, The Kevin Bishop Show, and Free Agents can attest.) Starts with Campus, from the creators of Green Wing and Smack The Pony (watch a clip); the Ricky Gervais script-edited Phoneshop; Sharon Horgan in The Increasingly Poor Decisions Of Todd Margaret; a female sketch show co-starring Josie Long; Guantanamo Phil, about a birdwatcher who returns home from the titular internment camp; Pete V Life, about a man whose life is narrated by two sports commentators, from the writers of Peep Show; and Rhys Darby headlines The Amazing Dermot, about a failed magician on the comeback trail.
Michael Jackson: The Live Séance (Sky1, 10pm) Spiritual medium Derek Acorah tried to make contact with the recently-deceased King Of Pop.

SATURDAY 7th

Nothing.

SUNDAY 8th

The Children Who Fought Hitler (BBC4, 9pm) Documentary telling the story of a heroic battle fought by the children of the British Memorial School to help defeat the Nazis.
Alexander Armstrong's Very British Holiday (BBC1, 10.25pm) The actor/comedian explores the state of the UK tourist industry.

Box-Eyed: Did Jon Culshaw make a good impression?

2009-11-01T17:40:00.000Z

For the second week running, there's just the one review in my Box-Eyed column over at Newslite.tv, this one taking a look at Jon Culshaw and Debra Stephenson's new impressions show, er, The Impressions Show.

"For many people, impressionists are only above ventriloquists on the ladder of entertainment. Both are "party trick"-style skills that audiences find diverting, but the actual content of their material can leave a lot to be desired. Consequently, both have their peaks and troughs in widespread popularity, but there's generally an appetite for lighthearted impressions-based sketch shows – something less politically-motived than Rory Bremner, and more along the lines of Alistair McGowan's Big Impression or Dead Ringers." Continue reading...

MERLIN 2.6 - "Beauty And The Beast - Part Two"

2009-11-01T14:30:00.000Z

[SPOILERS] Unusually scripted by a different writer to part one, Ben Vanstone picks up the "Beauty And The Beast" baton and concludes this two-part story in fine style. However, this remains a tale I'd preferred to have seen condensed into one episode...

Following last week's marriage of King Uther (Anthony Head) to incognito troll Lady Catrina (Sarah Parish), the duplicitous monster plots to takeover Camelot; first by removing Merlin (Colin Morgan) by accusing him of stealing a family heirloom, then by raising taxes to extortionate levels so that Arthur's (Bradley James) forced to defy his father's wishes and face disinheritance. Lady Catrina steps forward as the new heir to the throne and, despite the fact Merlin succeeds in expose her as a stinking monstrosity by replacing her shape-changing potion with a useless imitation, Uther's loyalty to his wife is assured thanks to the magical amulet he's wearing round his neck...

Despite my general indifference to this mid-series tale, this was undoubtedly a jaunty and amusing two-parter. Sarah Parish was clearly having immense fun shuffling about sniffing her own farts, and sequences where Uther continued treating Catrina as a beautiful swan when she resembled a human toad were often hilarious; from Uther noticing Catrina's fragrance and being told it's dung, to planting a gruesome kiss on her tusked lips in bed. Such scenes undoubtedly provoked laughter from both young and old audiences.

The episode fell down in its formulaic use of the sanctimonious Dragon (John Hurt) in telling Merlin how to break Catrina's spell (the king must cry genuine tears of remorse, so they plan to fake Arthur's death), but otherwise there wasn't too much to complain about. Arthur was more receptive to Merlin's warnings than he was last week (for storytelling purposes) but you still get the impression the level of trust between the pair changes according to what the plot demands.

In terms of its influence on the bigger picture this year, Gwen (Angel Coulby) was gladdened by Athur going against his father's outrageous tax increase, the Dragon reminded us that Merlin owes him his freedom, and it was interesting to hear in the denouement that Uther believed these events only go to prove how dangerous magic is. Interesting because, when you stop and think about it, Uther's half-right. While magic can be used for good by benevolent people, if it didn't exist there'd be far less trouble and at least everyone would be on equal footing.

Overall, "Beauty And The Beast" was definitely a pleasurable and funny story, but not the kind of thing I respond to particularly. It'll be forgotten in no time because nothing of consequence really came of it. These episodes were aimed more at young fans -- and, while that's not a problem in itself, it's a pity there wasn't a touch more for adults to chew on. Fart gags and saying the word "dung" every five minutes can only carry you so far.

Personally, I found more satisfaction in a final scene between Merlin and Arthur, which again carried traces of homoeroticsm, as prudish Arthur shied away from Merlin's hug. It suddenly occurred to me that perhaps Merlin really does have sexual feelings for his master, given the fact he's has barely looked at a girl in nineteen episodes. Of course, I doubt the writers will take things in that direction for family viewing purposes, but there's certainly an undercurrent that Merlin's homosexual, or bisexual at the very least. With the majority of female guest-stars turning out to be evil sorceresses, hideous trolls, or malevolent fairies – no wonder poor Merlin has mild gynophobia.

31 October 2009
BBC1, 6.15pm

written by: Ben Vanstone directed by: Metin Huseyin starring: Colin Morgan (Merlin), Sarah Parish (Lady Catrina), Anthony Head (King Uther), Adam Godley (Jonas), Richard Wilson (Gaius), Bradley James (Arthur), Angel Coulby (Gwen), Katie McGrath (Morgana), Michael Cronin (Geoffrey of Monmouth), Rhys Rusbatch (Guard), Rupert Young (Sir Leon) & Brian Peck (Eldred)

Push (2009)

2009-11-01T10:30:00.000Z

It's an indie riff on a genre that's come to dominate multiplexes ever since Keanu Reeves denied the existence of a spoon ten years ago, blessed with a fun mythology and a praiseworthy decision to set the whole shebang in Hong Kong. It's kept alive by its cool ideas and a few diverting set-pieces from British director Paul McGuigan, but beyond that Push is exposed as flaccid bore. In a lethargic 111 minutes, it barely approximates the infectious fun of its own trailer...

A pre-credit back-story informs us that the Nazi's tried to create Übermensch in 1944, the descendants of whom have now become a subclass of society with supernatural abilities at their disposal -- categorized thus: "watchers" (clairvoyancy), "movers" (telekinesis), "pushers" (mind control), "bleeders" (er, destructive screams), "sniffers" (psychometry), "shifters" (hallucinations), "shadows" (power dampeners), and others.

The mutants are being rounded up by global Divisions, one led by "mover" Agent Carver (Djimon Hounsou, reprising his role from The Island), who's trying to find a mutant called Kira (Camilla Belle) because she survived an ability-boosting injection which usually proves fatal, singling her out as a valuable Patient Zero. It's not long before Cassie's old flame, "mover" Nick (Fantastic Four's Chris Evans, stereotyped?), and precocious teen "watcher" Cassie (Dakota Fanning) are caught up in the melee, trying to help Kira survive with the help of various allies across the city.

It all sounds far more exciting on the page than it feels on the screen, sadly. McGuigan has a flair that make a few sequences more successful than they perhaps would have been without his involvement (a scene of exploding fish during a market foot-chase, the other a face-off with floating handguns at a restaurant), but the script by David Bourla doesn't coalesce its neat ideas into anything particularly gripping, or even that comprehensible. I spent the film hoping TV's Heroes learns a thing or two from Push's sense of realism and focus, but contrarily lamented the fact McGuigan hadn't taken that superhero drama's early sense of heart, pace and a storyline people could grasp and invest themselves in.

As it stands, there's little emotional connection to anything going down here, the distinction between heroes and villains is vague, and a number of plot-points left me confused -- like why the nasty Division is comprised of those they "hunt", and why mutants would be against getting a jab that will now ensure they'll be twice as powerful. Assumedly that would make them extremely employable by the government (as if they're not already!) and that surely beats scratching out a living from a Chinese tenement block, no?

directed by: Paul McGuigan written by: David Bourla starring: Chris Evans (Nick Grant), Dakota Fanning (Cassie Holmes), Camilla Belle (Kira Hudson/Hollis), Djimon Hounsou (Agent Henry Carver), Ming-Na (Emily Hu), Cliff Curtis ("Hook" Waters), Nate Mooney ("Pinky" Stein), Corey Stoll (Agent Mack), Scott Michael Campbell (Agent Holden), Maggie Siff (Teresa Stowe), Paul Car (Wo Chiang), Xiao Lu Li (The Pop Girl), Kwan Fung Chi (Pop Boy #1), Jacky Heung (Pop Boy #2), Haruhiko Yamanouchi (Pop Father), Joel Gretsch (Nick's Father) & Colin Ford (Young Nick) / Summit Entertainment / 111 mins. / $38 million (budget) / www.push-themovie.com

DVD/Blu-ray Releases: November 2009

2009-11-01T00:00:00.001Z

Amazon.co.uk Widgets

As we approach Christmas, the summer's early blockbusters are beginning to arrive on disc, which should make stocking fillers easier to plan for. Let's look at what November has in store for British DVD/Blu-ray consumers:

2 NOVEMBER

Braveheart
Family Guy: Season 1-8 Box-set
Family Guy: Season 8
Forrest Gump
Krod Mandoon & The Flaming Sword Of Fire
The Prisoner: The Ultimate Set
Santa Claus: The Movie
Snow White & The Seven Dwarfs
Star Trek - The Next Generation Movie Collection
Star Trek Trilogy
Star Wars: The Clone Wars - Season 1
Sunshine Cleaning
Supernatural: Season 1-4 Box-set
Supernatural: Season 4
The Mentalist: Season 1
The Polar Express
The Universe: Season 2
The Wizard Of Oz
Wallace & Gromit - The Complete Collection
Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory
Year One

9 NOVEMBER

Borat
Bruno
The Descent
Desperate Housewives: Season 1-5 Box-set
Elektra
Harry Hill's TV Burp Gold 2
Heat
House: Season 5
Trinity: Series 1

16 NOVEMBER

Charley Borman - From Sydney To Tokyo By Any Means
Four Christmases
Merlin: Series 1, Volume 1
Michael McIntyre: Live 2009
Moon
North By Northwest
Outnumbered: Series 1 & 2 Box-set
Rome: Season 1 & 2 Box-set
Star Trek (2009)
Star Trek: The Original Series Remastered - Season 2
Star Trek: Films 1-10 Remastered Special Edition
Stephen Fry: Last Chance To See
Strictly Come Dancing: Live Tour 2008/09
Terminator Salvation: The Machinima Series
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles - Season 2
The Towering Inferno
Tyson: The Movie

23 NOVEMBER

Antichrist
Cha'mone Mo'Fo' Selecta! A Tribute To Michael Jackson
Fight Club
Grey's Anatomy: Season 1-3 Box-set
Ice Age 1-3 Box-set
Ice Age 3
Land Of The Lost
My Sister's Keeper
Terminator 1-4 Box-set
Terminator Salvation
The Armstrong & Miller Show: Series 1 & 2 Box-set
The Armstrong & Miller Show: Series 2
The Sopranos: Season 1
Them

30 NOVEMBER

Emma
G-Force
James May's Toy Story
Life
The Proposal
Transformers/Transformers 2 Box-set
Transformers - Revenge Of The Fallen
Watchmen (Director's Cut)