Of Screenwipe

Alright I aim on making this short and sweet. Please watch Screenwipe. It is deftly funny and an interesting look at the world of televsion. Series 5 will be on BBC in just a couple of months and even if you haven't seen any of the previous episodes don't worry and almost the entirety of the show can be found on Youtube. In fact below you will find the entire of the first episode. Yup that's right. Not a review in site. Just a plea to watch the show.

Of Lost Season 4

Alright this post was once more delayed. Couldn't do it yesturday because I was out. However it is finally happening. My thoughts of Lost Season 4. Now I'm going to have a score at the end but I will be writing my individual thoughts of each episode (There's No Place Like Home will be treated as one episode despite being 3 and having 2 directors).
To preface all statements, Lost season 4 was once more utterly superb television. Damon and Carlton are two of the best writers in television and they have assembled an amazing troop of writers (paticular standouts are Drew Goddard and Brian K. Vaughan.) So in Lost season 4 we launched straight into the concept introduced at the end of Season 3, flash forwards, which definately gave the story wind as to be honest the flashbacks were getting stale (yes some stories weren't finished and still aren't but Jack's tattoos and Locke's time in a drug farm are hardly stories the fans really wanted to see.) So let's jump straight in:

The Beginning of the End
The premiere episode launched us straight back into the story. Hurley's flashforwards were cool (as were the cameos from Charlie) and the island story helped to move the story along at an awesome pace. Loads of little reference to the previous seasons (Jack and Kate standing by the front of the plane remembering Charlie is paticularly memorable.) The acting is great, paticularly Jorge Garcia who shows of great gravitas in recouting memories of Charlie to the group. The biggest plot points occur when the Losties are split into two groups Jack and Locke and we are introduced to Daniel.

Confirmed Dead
The episode where we are introduced to all the new characters. Daniel, Miles, Charlotte and Frank. Daniel shows paticular promise with a cryptic scene of him crying over the fake remains of Flight 815. This is also the episode where we get more information on the whole "Everyone died theory" with actual pictures from the fake crash and Frank crushing this in a very interesting way. Charlotte and Miles also add mysticism to their characters with Polar Bears in the desert and ghost people. Finally we find out that Ben has a spy on the Freighter and that the people on it want to take Ben with them.

The Economist
Sayid's flashforward. Interesting episode. Some Sawyer/Kate play. Locke is in this quite abit and doesn't show any remorse holding old friends agains their will. Really whilst this is great episode only two very important things happen. For starters Daniel (by this point already a firm favourite of mine) introduces us to more time travel ideas with a rocket being fired and arriving half an hour later. Secondly is the fact that Ben is off the island in the future as well along with the Oceanic 6 (currently standing at Jack, Kate, Hurley and Sayid).

Eggtown
Weird episode name for a shipper episode. We get answers to what will Kate's trail look like and who she wants to go home to in the Season 3 finale (Claire's baby son Aaron!!!). The majority of the island story is spent around Kate and Sawyer, although along with the secret room found in Ben's house last episode (with many, many passports), we also find out that Miles wants Ben to pay him a large amount of money in exchange for not taking him hostage (something which results in him having a grenade shoved in his mouth).

The Constant
A fantastic episode and sister episode to my favourite episode of television last year "Flashes Before Your Eyes". Desmond makes it to the the Freighter where crazy shit starts happening. He starts falshing back to 1996. The episode is superbly shot and tightly edited. The music is great and is overall one of the episodes of televsion EVER. Desmond visits Daniel in 1996 Oxford who explains being "unstuck in time". We get to see Charles Widmore again in another awesome Alan Dale/Henry Ian Cusick. However the best moment is the Desmond and Penny scene at the end. Media is hard pressed to really touch me however the Desmond and Penny story is one of the best love stories ever told. Desmond on the phone to Penny at the end had me in tears and it is downright shameful that Henry Ian Cusick did not get an emmy nomination for this episode as he is downright superb. Also what is up with Daniel being Desmond's constant?

The Other Woman
After the Constant this was a bit of a let down. Ben fancies Juliet. Juliet loves Goodwin but Goodwin is married. Ben has Goodwin killed. Juliet freaks out. Flashback done. Island story. Juliet loves Jack. Daniel and Charlotte go off to a new Dharma Station. They turn it off despite being thought to try and blow it up. Overall not that interesting. However we do get the development that Charles Widmore is looking for the island and set up a fake plane crash!!!!! Now we're talking

Ji Yeon
The final member of the Oceanic 6 is revealled as Sun. At first we think Jin as well but it's jus the producers fucking with us leading to a beautiful scene at the end with Sun crying over Jin's grave with new born baby Ji Yeon in her hands. On the island Juliet reveals that Sun had an affair. On the Freighter we meet the ellusive captain who tells us Ben set up the fake plane crash and we also find out that it is Michael (not seen since the Season 2 finale) is Ben's spy on the Freighter.

Meet Kevin Johnson
AKA Michael's alias. Flashback revealling what Michael has been up to since leaving the island. Apparantly he tried to commit sucide multiple times. Told his so he killed two people. Was haunted by a dead person. Found by a gay man (now deceased Other Mr. Friendly) who told him to go back to the island and that the island doesn't want him dead. All good for about two weeks work. We go back to the Freighter where he almost blows it up but turns he's not supposed to due to "innocent people". He begins sabotaging the equipment on the boat per Ben's request. All in all a very cool episode slightly let down by the deaths of Karl and Rousseau (purely as the deaths seemed very tacked on).

The Shape of Things to Come
The second truely great episode of the season. Flashforward of Ben's adventures after the island. Reeapearance by Smokey and some great acting by Michael Emerson (paticularly after Alex is shot). Whilst not much is revealled we learn more about the Monster (the fact that it can be controlled by Ben). Lots of action (this episode was Lost producers way of adding to thier explosion quota.) More interesting time bending with Doctor winding up on the beach despite not being dead. Most of all though some interesting flashforwards. Why was Ben in the desert? Why is wearing an arctic jacket? Why Tunisa (same place as the Polar Bears in Episode 2 of Season 4). This all culminated in an incredible scene between Michael Emerson and Alan Dale where Ben promises to kill Penny. Emmy worthy stuff for sure.

Something Nice Back Home
Another bad Jack episode. Whilst the season 3 finale was great "Stranger in a Strange Land" sucked. The flashforward was interesting as we chronicled how Jack came to be the pill popping bad ass he was in the Season 3 finale. Turns out he's living with Kate and knows Aaron is his nephew. Kate is doing something for Sawyer. On the island the story is a tad boring with Jack undergoing surgery to have his appendix removed. Not that interesting especially after "The Shape of Things to Come" promised us so much. Although Claire does go off with Mr. Christian Shepherd

Cabin Fever
The third amazing episode of Season 4. Locke gets flashback treatment this time, chronicling his lifes journey with some interesting parallels to Ben's life (both their mother's are called Emily for example.) Also we see Richard Alpert for the first time since Season 3 and he seems to be interested in Locke. The scene where he tells Locke to choose three items being escpecially cryptic and ultimately futil as Locke picks up the knife foreshadowing his hunter side. On the island we go back to Jacob's Cabin where we find.....Jacob? Nope it's Christian and Claire who tell Locke to move the island (wtf?). Outside Hurley and Ben share a funny scene. On the Freighter the Captain and the Doctor are killed (explaining why the Doctor is dead in episode 9). Then Keamy and troops go off to the Orchid the same place are island movers are going.

There's No Place Like Home
The last amazing episode of Season 4 which I'm not going to spoil just yet as a) a lot happens and b) I really can't be arsed to write a summary. All I will say is that this episode is perfection. Complete and utter perfection. Damon and Carlton deftly create and amazing 2 hour tour de force chronicling how the survivors get of the island. There are explosions , kisses, reunions, fights, deaths and time travel. Everything that makes Lost so utterly superb. The episode ends with a supreme mind fuck of the highest order and we get other amazing twists along the way (seriously the Frozen Donkey Wheel). Finally the crowning jewel was a completely unexpected turn that had me tears just like the Constant (the other perfect episode of Season 4). The finale had me hooked from beginning to end and was absolutely fucking awesome.


Now for the score. Lost season 4 gets a 10/10 easily. It was only let down by a few episodes however these were aired after superb episodes and so would look crap in comparison. Lost season 4 ends on a note which almost brings to the story to an end and it 's difficult to see how they will continue it. All I know is that come January I will be there to watch the Season 5 premiere "Because You Left".

Of Doctor Who Season 4.....and why the Finale Sucked

Welcome to a trilogy of blog posts. They won't be related but it will be three posts in three days. Yay.

I start of this epic trilogy with a rant. Doctor Who season 4 was great. It had some amazing episodes (unsurprisingly Steven Moffat's episodes "Silence in the Library" and "Forest of the Dead" spring to mind straight away.) However my favourite episode of season 4 would have to be "The Stolen Earth." Yup Russell T. Davies wrote a cracking episode here. He once again proved that whilst he can write fantastic episodes about characters. Every single pre-finale episode has been superb and near perfect. And this year he outdid himself.
Whilst it was only a set up it was still fantastic setup. RTD shows the strength of all the characters that have been built up over four years of the new Doctor Who as well as two years of Torchwood and one of Sarah Jane Adventures. He also proves that Daleks can be scary. I got serious chills when they blew up that house. Yes it was silly how the Dalek came round the corner and shot the Doctor before he met Rose. I mean really Russell that could have been an awesome scene. Tears, a reunion, Donna getting jealous of these two people who obviously love each other. Ahh yes it would have been awesome. However we did get Captain Jack, Sarah Jane, Martha and surprise appearance from Harriet Jones (one of the best deaths ever btw).

Now I’m gonna preface what I’m about to say about “Journey’s End” by saying it wasn’t my least favourite episode of Season 4 (“Unicorn and the Wasp” I’m looking at you) it was merely a lacklustre finale.

Firstly RTD, please kill of you’re characters. It is three times you’ve backed out of killing a character. Season 1 it was a nice surprise with Jack coming back to life. Season 2 we were expecting Rose to die instead she didn’t but we were treated to heart breaking scene between Billie Piper and David Tennant. Now in season 4 where Donna is supposed to die I want her to die. Not because she’s not a good character, because she was, she was great, it’s just you can’t say “so and so is going to die” and then not deliver. Instead we got a cop out with “her mind has been wiped meaning that the Donna who was no longer exists.” I’m sorry but no. Donna is supposed so why isn’t she dead. We don’t want this bullshit so that she can come back in Season 11 when some writer gets writers block and thinks “lets bring her back through some convenient plot development”.

Secondly RTD can’t write a good conclusion for a sci-fi story. Three years in a row there’s been a Deus Ex Machina ending to end the story. Millions of Daleks killed in seconds. The Master ended by “I believe in Fairies clapping” and now Doctor Donna. In fact Season 4 had at least four possible endings with the Osterhagen Key and Sarah Jane’s necklace. Yes if we actually got some development of these stories they may have felt more influenced. Instead RTD felt more constrained in this feature length episode than normal.

Thirdly RTD YOU FUCKED UP ONE THE MOST BEAUTIFUL SCENES OF TELEVSION EVER!!!!! Tennant and Piper were superb in that scene at the end of season 2. Now you decide to revisit and piss away all poignancy in it. Doctor and Rose were brilliant together because it was heartbreaking to know that they could never be together but now you give a human Doctor to give Rose a happy ending. It’s not what was needed. You should have just left fans with the wonderfully constructed scene.

Finally and most significantly camp humour. Get rid of it. Yes it appeals to the kiddies but watching all the companions wheel Daleks, the scariest thing the universe, around a room destroys any future hope of them scaring children again. Also “the TARDIS was built for six”? Just no.

Now the finale wasn’t a complete failure. As always David Tennant was superb as were everyone else. The special effects were good. It’s just RTD can’t write a satisfying science fiction conclusion to save his life. So whilst I’m anticipating his specials next year as long as he focuses on characters and not sci-fi. But I want season 5 even more because Steven Moffat is the true Doctor Who master. Blink is still one of my favourite episodes of television ever and I can’t wait to see what he does with about 4 or 5 episodes a year.

Now this seems to be mostly a critique of the final two episodes but that’s because that is where Season 4 was made and lost. The penultimate five episodes of season 4 were all fantastic with a load of good episodes before (in fact every episode was good apart from the “Unicorn and the Wasp”). “Partners in Crime” blew my mind with that Rose reveal. That is one of the best kept secrets ever. Every other episode was good, with Catherine Tate and David Tennant being superb throughout. It was just the lacklustre finale that let it down.

Overall I would give Doctor Who Season 4 an 7/10. With a better finale it could have easily got a 8 but RTD cocked up

Now other news. Tomorrow an oft delayed post on Lost and the day after tomorrow a post on Screenwipe. Also look forward to my thoughts on many TV premieres for the TV season as well as book, movie and music reviews. And hopefully some ramblings straight from head (including one on why swearing isn’t wrong).

Of The Wire

Right I would like to preface this next blog post by saying that I am in no way whatsoever qualified to soliloquise what makes The Wire so bloody awesome (more awesome than The Dark Knight which as I’ve made clearly is pretty darn awesome).

I would also like to say that The Wire isn’t my favourite show on television (still belongs to Lost), but it is safe to say that The Wire is well and truly the best show on television. Not just at the moment but all time.

Now as to why The Wire is so fantastic. Well The Wire is so fantastic because it is so brutally honest with the viewer. Whilst it isn’t solely for that reason, it is definitely a big part as to why this show is superb. No other show on television is able to show with such brutal honesty the police, the drug trade, port workers, school systems, politics and now in season 5 a news room.

Of course the acting and the writing for this show are superb. In particular characters such as Omar Little (Michael K. Williams), Stinger Bell (Idris Elba), Jimmy McNulty (Dominic West)…. ah screw it the entire cast is flipping awesome and it’s a sight to behold that even within a cast of over 30 main characters (which makes Lost seem small) there is hardly a weak actor in the entire bunch.

The story is long and over arching, a lot like Lost except without the centric episodes devoted to certain characters and weird fantasy type moments. The Wire is completed grounded in reality to the point where all the music is diegetic (apart from the montages that finish off each of the seasons). The Wire isn’t one of those shows where you can sit and surf the net for an hour and still understand what has happened in the preceding hour. You have to be concentrating 100%, which is in no way a strike against but something that you must be prepared for if you do watch. Another thing about the show which again in no way is a negative point is that the plot moves at very slow pace and so takes a while to get into the main plot of the series. But it’s still the best show on TV even when its setting up all of these little plot points and layering it’s characters to a point where they look like onions.

Now onto Series 5 of The Wire. Series 5 begins a year after the end of series 4 and continues the poor state of disrepair that Baltimore is enduring. Marlo Stanfield still rules the streets of West Baltimore. Major Crimes is getting nowhere in their investigation meaning that there are more than 20 unclaimed bodies in the morgue. Mayor Carcetti is trying to get the school budget under control which means diverting money from the police funds leading to the police moral being at an all time low. They aren’t receiving overtime pay for their work and have to drive rusty cars around town on their patrols. The media is completely out of touch with what’s happening in Baltimore. Oh and McNulty is drinking again.

So all in all just another average day in Baltimore. And it can only get worse from here. Yup it looks like Baltimore is going to get a lot worse over the coming weeks hopefully leading up to an awesome ending (which from what I've heard is pretty special). So the series premiere of series 5 has shown that not a lot is going to change in Baltimore and we're going to get all the normal killings and indepth introspectives into the lives of a group of people who have never had such a heart felt look at their culture before.

LONG LIVE BALTIMORE

P.S. Lost Comic-Con panel gave us this awesome video.

Is that Daniel Faraday I hear in the background? 30 years in the past?

Also, finally a release date for The Fall in the UK. October 3^rd I can hardly wait (luckily Heroes, Chuck, Pushing Daisies, Dexter, How I Met Your Mother and 30 Rock will be back on by then).

Of The Dark Knight Part 2

It's been over 24 hours since I saw the Dark Knight and I still can't stop thinking about it. The movie is simply incredibly. "Fucking awesome" is all I could say when I came out of the cinema and really that is that needs to be said of this of this movie as it is plain and simply "fucking awesome".

My friend described it as "poetic". I told him point blank that he was wrong as it was more ironic however this is not going to be an indepth introspective of The Dark Knight, merely someone who loved it telling you how awesome it was.

So I'm going to say point blank that it's easily a 5 star film. Easily. One of six films I'd actually give 5 stars to (along with The Fountain, Requiem for a Dream, Garden State, The Matrix and Donnie Darko) and it definately deserves every iota of hype and praise it has recieved from the press and the general public. The Dark Knight might not be my favourite movie ever (still The Fountain) but it is up there (as I just said top 6).

The Dark Knight was also the best experience I've ever had in a cinema. I've had some pretty depressing experiences in cinemas and so this one just made the Dark Knight even more fantastic. No ones phone went off, no one talked, no clapped or laughed at inappropriate moments (there were still chuckles though). I'm the last person to clap for movies but I desperately wanted to give a standing ovation however no one else did so it looked like I was alone in my stance on how bloody amazing this movie was.

The Dark Knight is also the first of my five stars I've had the enjoyment of watching in a cinema. Every other one was watched in the safety of my own home (apart from The Fountain which oddly enough I watched on a 10 hour plane journey). So it's greatly improved my need to go to the cinema more often (along with Wall-E, another superb film).

Now the reviewy part. Everything about was fucking awesome. Whist I did have a couple of niggles. (Why did the Joker just leave Dent's fundraiser after Batman jumps through the window? Why didn't Batman call Gordon and tell him that the hostages were dressed as clones? Why didn't Sal Moroni have more than a walking stick after being dropped off the top of a building and breaking his legs?) But other than that everything and everyone was amazing. Paticularly Heath Ledger who is simply astounding as The Joker and it is worth seeing the movie just to watch him act in a role which if he doesn't recieve an Oscar nomination, shows how out of touch the award shows are.

The plot of the movie is dark as you'd expect with the only light coming from the occasional explosion. Christopher Nolan again shows how good a director he is backing his other films such as Memento and The Prestige.

Quite frankly this movie needs to be seen to be believed and by the looks of the numbers its raking in ($158 million in 3 days) pretty soon it will be. As I've already said in this rambling review (from someone who hasn't watched all of the Batman films), this movie is amazing. It definately gets 10 out of 10 and is the best movie that I have watched all year

Now for house cleaning. My view on The Wire will be posted soon. Very soon. Also expect in the coming weeks a look at Screenwipe, Lost Season 4 and Why the Season Finale of Doctor Who Sucked (and yet the rest of the series rocked).

Of The Dark Knight Part 1

Just got in from the cinema from seeing it.
My verdict?
Go. Watch. It. Now.





More on that in the near future. Later on today actually, along with my view on The Wire.

P.S. More Darren Aronofsky awesomeness

Of Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog

Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog is officially the most awesome web series I have seen. Joss Whedon, Neil Patrick Harris, Nathan Fillion, Felicia Day and everyone else who worked on it are awesome, plain and simple.

I've watched all three parts multiple times and am well on the way to memorizing the words (particularly 'My Freeze Ray', 'My Eyes' and 'Brand New Day'). The songs are catchy and thankfully everyone can sing, which cannot be said of other musicals I have seen. For example Sarah Chalke whilst being amazing in Scrubs and How I Met Your Mother can't sing (see "My Musical" where she is given barely any song time). Alyson Hannigan was also awesome in Buffy and How I Met Your Mother but couldn't sing in "Once More with Feeling".

Now this could mean that no one on How I Met Your Mother can sing, however NPH just blows this theory out of the water as Dr. Horrible. He's a proper Broadway musical actor and he sings amazingly in this. Whilst Fillion and Day are both great singers (particularly surprised about Fillion) NPH blows them out of the water. Some of the best parts of the songs come from NPH's delivery, it also helps that he was amazing as Dr. Horrible.

Now I'm not going to spoil the story or ending. All I will say is that it's a love story told from the prospective of a super villain (NPH) watching the superhero (Fillion) getting the girl of his dreams (Day) that is the story in a nutshell. But obviously being a Joss Whedon product means great dialogue, great direction, great plot etc. I sincerely think Joss is one of the best directors out there at the moment (Serenity is phenomenal btw) and whilst he doesn't do anything awe inspiring with this web series it is just well directed and has all of his trademarks from his years in film and television which prove why he has such an adoring fanbase (proof). This makes the wait for Dollhouse in January even more arduous as this is the end of new Joss Whedon products till then (thankfully I have several seasons of Buffy and Angel to watch).

I can safely say that I will be buying whatever DVD/CD comes out for Dr. Horrible in the near future because to be honest these guys need to be paid for doing an awesome job. Personally I want more stuff like this with good production values and good actors, and if it means forking out a tenner for the DVD and Soundtrack I'm perfectly willing to do so.

Overall (i.e. all three acts) I'm going to give Dr. Horrible 9/10 and will probably add it into my increasing shortlist for Top 10 TV Shows I Watched in '08 (yes I know it's not TV but it's Joss Whedon and he's about as TV as you can get). As or my favourite episodes of '08, if any part of Dr. Horrible makes it on I'll probably choose Act 2 as it was the perfect match of everything that made it great (it also had the best line in the entire production which definitely helps).

Well as I write this there is still some time left to watch Dr. Horrible for free so I'm going to do so for what must be my fifth viewing (and if you haven't watched at all then shame on you).

I do realise that I've done two NPH posts in a row but it must be said that he is awesome as Barney (aka 'Swarley') and Dr. Horrible. In actual fact I did have two other blog posts planned but they'll have to come at a later date.

So I'm going to leave you with promises of more reviews (of Lost season 4, Veronica Mars 1, 2&3, HIMYM 1, 2&3 and many others) and a critique of the Wire up until this point and the premiere of Season 5 (which will be posted in a few days). I will now leave you with a video of NPH and Jason Segel singing Les Mis (it's not Dr. Horrible but it's awesome none the less)


P.S. Watchmen trailer has me psyched oh so much (particularly since I just re-read the graphic novel).