Watching stuff....
I haven't been talking much about what I've been watching, mainly because my mind's been on an assortment of other things, but suffice it to say that I've been watching the usual too much of everything and sometimes not quite enough of specific things. I have at least two good rants about Heroes looking for an outlet, and I might have one about last week's episode of CSI if I could get beyond the very basic state of being pissed off that William Friedkin turned in an incoherent piece of shit that's essentially 42 minutes of pure cinematic wankery that doesn't even have a real conclusion.
I finally gave up on the horribly boring Women's Murder Club. I did start watching CSI: NY again, but I have to echo popfiend on this one -- what the hell's this supervillain thing they've got going? Next we'll have everybody in spandex outfits and manifesting powers. While I rather like the idea of Gary Sinise suddenly scurrying up the sides of skyscrapers, I suspect there would be an issue with suspension of disbelief. Not that there isn't an issue with that now, mind you.
Spooks has been generally disappointing, although episode 9 of this season was almost good, with some very nice work from Peter Firth. The final episode of the season, however, is about to drive into a brick wall at a very high rate of knots.
I've managed a few movies here and there as well, including Fantastic Four: Rise Of The Silver Surfer, which was more or less vaguely annoying from start to finish. X-Men: The Last Stand is a clutter fest with some solid moments and a nothing story, plus a really bad take on the Dark Phoenix story (I had expected Singer to be shooting for Rogue to take down the overpowered Jean, causing her to get a tragic power-up in the process; instead Rogue ends up reduced to lameness.) I went in to Ghost Rider expecting stinky cheese, and got a reasonable serving of that, although Sam Elliot went a long way to redeeming the whole thing, which is frankly impressive -- to hell with Johnny Blaze, they should have made the film about Elliot as the 1800s-era Ghost Rider.
Saw Pirates Of The Caribbean: At World's End and didn't have a bad time with it, although it certainly could have stood a fair bit of streamlining. Also, it was surprisingly dark, especially with the hanging of children at the start. The animatronic Keith Richards they wheeled in for a cameo was a nice touch.
I actually did sit through all of Tin Man despite Zooey Deschanel's bizarre performance. The story didn't make a whole lot of sense overall, but it was slightly better than the average Halmi production. It's possible to see the seams where they turned the series pitch into a miniseries, though, and where it's straining to be a series again. The abrupt ending was like a slap in the face -- the damn thing more or less just stopped dead.
Best out of the past few weeks for me, hands-down, would be Pushing Daisies, which I adore because it makes me smile and lifts my spirits and leaves me for a while as something other than a grouchy old bear; Battlestar Galactica: Razor, which did some tricky storytelling very well and provided some excellent space porn to boot, and, finally, Stardust, which I just saw. I do see some flaws in the thing, but they're not so huge (one is that horrid end title song) and they vanish beneath the point that this did for me more or less what Pushing Daisies does, which is to say it made me smile, laugh, feel the elevation of my spirit, and so on. Hell, I even liked Claire Danes in this. Indeed, I didn't groan once at Michelle Pfeiffer's performance. What a shame that the marketing wonks in Hollywood had no clue how to pitch this film to a worldwide audience (the same thing may have happened with The Golden Compass, which is not doing all that well.)
Sleepy time now, yo. Be well, my myriad readers.
I finally gave up on the horribly boring Women's Murder Club. I did start watching CSI: NY again, but I have to echo popfiend on this one -- what the hell's this supervillain thing they've got going? Next we'll have everybody in spandex outfits and manifesting powers. While I rather like the idea of Gary Sinise suddenly scurrying up the sides of skyscrapers, I suspect there would be an issue with suspension of disbelief. Not that there isn't an issue with that now, mind you.
Spooks has been generally disappointing, although episode 9 of this season was almost good, with some very nice work from Peter Firth. The final episode of the season, however, is about to drive into a brick wall at a very high rate of knots.
I've managed a few movies here and there as well, including Fantastic Four: Rise Of The Silver Surfer, which was more or less vaguely annoying from start to finish. X-Men: The Last Stand is a clutter fest with some solid moments and a nothing story, plus a really bad take on the Dark Phoenix story (I had expected Singer to be shooting for Rogue to take down the overpowered Jean, causing her to get a tragic power-up in the process; instead Rogue ends up reduced to lameness.) I went in to Ghost Rider expecting stinky cheese, and got a reasonable serving of that, although Sam Elliot went a long way to redeeming the whole thing, which is frankly impressive -- to hell with Johnny Blaze, they should have made the film about Elliot as the 1800s-era Ghost Rider.
Saw Pirates Of The Caribbean: At World's End and didn't have a bad time with it, although it certainly could have stood a fair bit of streamlining. Also, it was surprisingly dark, especially with the hanging of children at the start. The animatronic Keith Richards they wheeled in for a cameo was a nice touch.
I actually did sit through all of Tin Man despite Zooey Deschanel's bizarre performance. The story didn't make a whole lot of sense overall, but it was slightly better than the average Halmi production. It's possible to see the seams where they turned the series pitch into a miniseries, though, and where it's straining to be a series again. The abrupt ending was like a slap in the face -- the damn thing more or less just stopped dead.
Best out of the past few weeks for me, hands-down, would be Pushing Daisies, which I adore because it makes me smile and lifts my spirits and leaves me for a while as something other than a grouchy old bear; Battlestar Galactica: Razor, which did some tricky storytelling very well and provided some excellent space porn to boot, and, finally, Stardust, which I just saw. I do see some flaws in the thing, but they're not so huge (one is that horrid end title song) and they vanish beneath the point that this did for me more or less what Pushing Daisies does, which is to say it made me smile, laugh, feel the elevation of my spirit, and so on. Hell, I even liked Claire Danes in this. Indeed, I didn't groan once at Michelle Pfeiffer's performance. What a shame that the marketing wonks in Hollywood had no clue how to pitch this film to a worldwide audience (the same thing may have happened with The Golden Compass, which is not doing all that well.)
Sleepy time now, yo. Be well, my myriad readers.