Love's Kitchen

  

Love's Kitchen, the 2011 film starring Dougray Scott and Claire Forlani with a quick cameo by Gordon Ramsay was sweet but lacked real meat to the story. It was nice to see the two actors again in a film as I haven't heard much from either of them since 1998 in Ever After A Cinderella Story and Meet Joe Black respectively. The story is simple enough. Rob (Dougray Scott) is a chef in London but with the death of his wife he gives up on his cooking and his restaurant gets a horrible review. Enter Gordon Ramsay to go get his butt in gear and to get back into cooking. Moving out to the country to take up residence in The boot, the restaurant his wife had been looking at when she died, Rob meets resistance not only from the villagers but from American food critic Kate (Claire Forlani). Once people actually taste Rob's food they can't get enough of it, Kate writes him a fantastic review, his restaurant does well and Kate's father, who lives in the village, along with Kate's former lover with an underwear fetish try to shut him down. Of course there's a nice little romance between Rob and Kate that is eventually all squared away. The side story features Simon Callow as a food critic, one which Rob actually likes, who had a hit television show but is basically a drunk. That story lines adds a bit to the film as a whole but its necessarily needed.

I found the film to be very slow it was a strange combination of American romantic comedy and British drama without really pulling either off. There wasn't enough story there to really get invested. All the elements were there and the acting was fine but it wasn't a hit out of the park. The best part for me was the cameo by Gordon Ramsay playing himself. It doesn't bode well when I would rather see the cameo actor as the romantic lead. Michelle Ryan also pops here but I still haven't decided if I really like her or not.

 

I do have to say they handled some of the cliche things well like when the ex-lover hints to Rob who wrote the bad review Rob guesses that its Kate and waits to blow up later. It was a nice film but unfortunately I'm not sure if I would watch it again. There are plenty of films and television series about washed up chefs and this one lacks heat in the kitchen.

Once Upon a Time VS Grimm

Two shows on two different American networks are bringing fairy tales back to Prime time in, you guessed it, two different ways.

I'll start first with ABC's Once Upon a Time which for reminded me a lot of NBC's 2000 TV miniseries, The 10th Kingdom. The land of fairy tales, lead of course by Snow White, mixes in with real life. Sadly the special effects have changed much either in 11 years. Maybe I'm spoiled from watching special effects done for the BBC and ITV by The Mill but the special effects for Once Upon a Time are cheap and cringe worthy. With special effects being such a big part of films nowadays television needs to either catch up with the quality of special effects in films or just give up. The cheap aesthetic of the special effects takes away from the quality of the show and disrupts the enjoyment of the narrative. Added to this is the fact that Once Upon A Time isn't necessarily new, I've mentioned The 10th Kingdom before, and maybe it's the recent obsession with the story of Snow White, one that I never really liked in the first place, that makes this show seem a little redundant. I'm not quite sure where the plot is going to go besides the obvious of Emma Swan (and really? You're going to use the last name Swan after Twilight? How about some originality people) rescuing the fairy tale. The plot seems obvious yet a little hazy which in the long run will help the show maintain its viewers. On the positive side the show does have a couple of high caliber actors in it which Grimm lacks. Gennifer Goodwin plays Snow White a.k.a. the school teacher Ms. Blanchard and Robert Carlyle plays Rumpelstiltskin a.k.a. Mr. Gold. Both of whom do a great job and add subsistence to the show although I think Carlyle does a bit more. Also Goodwin looks way better with her long Snow White hair than the pixie cut of Ms. Blanchard. I'm not quite ready to give up on the show but it is on shaky ground. I'm hoping in the following weeks it picks up.

NBC's Grimm I have to admit I have a bias towards because it is filmed and set in my city of Portland, Oregon. Not only that but it's also produced by Buffy and Angel producer David Greenwalt and Angel producer Jim Kouf. Going into the pilot this show had higher expectations for me than Once Upon A Time did but Grimm, for the most part, lived up to my expectations. Now I know some of my enjoyment of the show is seeing my city on the screen and having the city not pretending to be another city. Beyond that personal enjoyment the show brought energy with it. It was creepy but in a good way. As in I could still watch it without being scared but was enthralled with what was happening. There was basically a good level of suspense. However, there were still some problems that may be addressed in later episodes. First off the acting. Unlike Once Upon A Time, the actors are mostly all from TV but not in a good way. The performances were very flat and is evidence of why people think television acting is worse than film acting. I don't believe the main character and there's a large gap of identification with the characters because they have no warmth. David Giuntoli plays the main character, cop Nick Burckhardt who for me is too much of a city boy to be believable. It's like he's trying to be a cop in New York not Portland. Once again this brings me back to the reason I want the show to succeed being filmed and based in Portland. It doesn't fit the profile of Portland especially since the city has been getting coverage lately after the success of Portlandia. Silas Weir Mitchell who plays the good wolf brings good humor to the show. What was a bit disturbing with the pilot episode was that Nick's partner shot the bad guy dead without having found the girl. Instead of going for a wound shot in the leg he shoots him in the back. This unfortunately is what can happen and there have been real cases of this happening with the Portland police and since they use actual Portland police cars I'm not sure how that's going to go down. Not that that's really a fault of the show just an observation of mine.

For me the clear winner of these two show is Grimm although I think both of them have a long way to go in plot and character development to be great shows that will stand up in the ratings and maintain their audiences.

Doctor Who 2005 - 2010

The last 15 minutes or so of Doctor Who: The End of Time Part 2, from the moment that we hear Wilfred Mott knock four times on the glass door, I start to lose it. And let me just say that I had better have the Kleenex box at hand. And it doesn't matter how many times I watch I still end up a sobbing mess that no one wants to approach. I believe this is the mark of an excellent show, not that I ever doubted that Doctor Who was a fantastic series but the fact that it still makes me cry even when I know what will happen makes it that much better. Of course this scene is super special and it's emotional charged with the knowledge that it marks an end of an era, not only of David Tennant as The Doctor but also as Russell T. Davies as the head writer and executive producer. By the end David Tennant's 10th Doctor has regenerated into Matt Smith's 11th Doctor and Russell T. Davies has handed over his well crafted reboot of a show to fellow writer Steven Moffat. (Tennant having left his role in more capable hands than Davies, but that's neither here nor there.)

The first regeneration, from Christopher Eccleston to Tennant wasn't as emotionally draining as Tennant to Smith but it was still monumental. Now if you excuse a moment of recollection...I first heard about the series from a friend who was studying abroad in England for a year. She sent me a newspaper clipping of David Tennant and Kylie Minogue from the fourth series Christmas special and although I had know idea who these people were I kept it and it hung on my wall silently tempting me to watch it. I finally gave in one day, finding the series streaming on Netflix and I was hooked.

The first series was amazing. I love Rose and The Doctor. It was a science fiction show that wasn't too out there in science fiction terms and wasn't really bad, like some of the stuff they have on endless loops on Saturday television. I finished it quickly but then came the first regeneration and it was a hard one. Although it was a picture of Tennant's Doctor that got me into the show Christopher Eccleston was my Doctor. It was hard to say goodbye after such a short time. Even now when I've rewatched the first series several times I find it hard to move on. The first time around I remember I stopped watching for a few weeks, not wanting to see a new Doctor. Much like Rose, at the beginning, I wanted him to change back to his former self, but I got used to him. Now, he's my favorite Doctor but I still have a soft spot for Eccleston and I still don't want to give him up, even in repeated viewings.

The second series, the second time around isn't as impressive as I had remembered it. I don't enjoy the series as a whole as much as I do the first series and it's weird because I love Rose and the 10th Doctor but I think I know what's coming at the end of the series. Some episodes however, such as 'Love and Mosters' is much better the second time around. I didn't like it the first time because it wasn't centred on The Doctor and Rose and since I knew Rose was leaving I wanted more of them together but watching it again and knowing that Rose eventually comes back in series four, it's easier to watch. Plus Shirley Henderson is AMAZING! The end for Rose always comes too soon, and like Tennant's regeneration a Kleenex box is in order.

The next companion to come is Martha Jones, albeit with a bit of Donna Noble in between. Martha Jones has always been my least favorite companion (although Amy has been giving her a run for her money). Part of it comes from coming so close after Rose but it's more than that because technically speaking Donna comes directly after Rose and I absolutely love her so the question still remains, why do I hate Martha Jones? She wants to be Rose. She falls for The Doctor whose still caught up on Rose. She's too clingy and whiny. But besides that she doesn't seem to need The Doctor as much as either Rose or Donna. If you look at her circumstances, she has a loving family - father and mother are both still alive, she lives on her own and is in training to be a doctor. Rose and Donna are much more working class. Rose works retail and Donna is a temp. The pair of them feel much more down to Earth than Martha ever does. It makes series three a dread to watch and I would rather skip forward to series four, even though Martha appears in that as well!

Series four is my favorite with Donna and the return of Rose and it was the first series I bought. My enjoyment of it the first time around was most likely expanded by reading Russell T. Davies and Benjamin Cook's The Writer's Tale along side it which details the writing of the fourth series. And the last three episodes of the series are some of the best - super epic but amazing. 'Turn Left,' 'The Stolen Earth' and 'Journey's End' brought back everyone, including the Daleks which had been missing. Rose was reunited with The Doctor but at a price of Donna. Donna's story is extremely tragic but it is handle so well that it works. She really is the most tragic character of the series. She doesn't die physically but all of her memories are wiped and she can no longer be DoctorDonna which can arguably be worse than death. I never think I'm going to cry when she starts to repeat herself but she always gets me. Unlike Rose and The Doctor's regeneration, Donna's death brings on a sudden rush of tears that I hadn't realized was going to be released. The onslaught often catches me unguarded but it's okay because it's such a good story.

Then it's just the year of specials. 'The Water's of Mars' I thought was brilliant for it's twist at the end. By this point I had finally caught up with the series and could watch it while it aired which brings me all the way back to the beginning and The End of Time. Of all the television I've watched the end of Part 2 is the one piece of television I can actually remember watching for the first time. It was early in the morning and I was sitting at the computer in the kitchen watching The Doctor say his goodbyes to his former companions. I was bawling my eyes out as my dad came around the corner to witness my pathetic state. Since then my love of Doctor Who has struggle a bit with the change in writer and cast but I'll always have these five years to look back on and I hope for the best for the future of Doctor Who as I progress in my Doctor Who Marathon into the Matt Smith/Steven Moffat years.

Wish me luck!

The Worst Week of My Life - The Complete Series

My first introduction to Ben Miller who plays Howard Steel was in the film The Prince in Me but I really got to know him in Primeval so to see him in this comedy role, even though I know that's where he started, was a little strange yet still enjoyable. I prefer Sarah Alexander in Coupling but this was still a nice role for her and Alison Steadman whose character was closer to Mrs. Bennett from Pride and Prejudice than I would have liked as opposed to something more along the lines of her role in Gavin and Stacey.

The idea of the series, to show the week before his wedding was fascinating. One: it focused on the male perspective when stories about weddings are more associated with women and two: the possibility of the series renewal would be greatly diminished, although they succeeded in two other series albeit the last a three part christmas special. The comedy is very slapstick and based on misunderstandings. It's funny but cringe worthy at the same time. You just know what ever Howard tries to do something will go wrong. He's a man who has the worst luck imaginable.

This is another series which I found while watching the BBC Sex and the Sitcom where I also go Men Behaving Badly and it was well worth the watch. Something I've noticed in not only The Worst Week of My Life but also in other British series is that the women are the ones who are always driving. I notice it I think as an American and maybe it's not such a big deal in the UK but for me it's something that stand out. It might have something to say about the failure of the male which the BBC documentary commented on but its still an intriguing observation.

So the first series tackles the week before the wedding the question is how do they move on from there? The wedding has happened, it was the worst week of Howard Steel's life or was it? Of course not or there couldn't be another series. I was half expecting Mel's sister to come back for the second series who at the end of the last announced her engagement to Howard's fill in best man but that plot was totally dropped and the sister was only mentioned or talked to on the phone for the final two series. Something the series could have dealt with better. The second series was the week before Howard and Mel's baby was born and the third handled Howard's worst Christmas which might have been the funniest of the three series but it also might have something to do with knowing all the characters by now. My favorite was Howard thinking that Mel's father had died and telling both Mel and her mother the bad news but I also really liked the interaction between Howard and Frasier throughout the series.

The Playboy Club v.s. Pan Am

  

After only three episodes, NBC has canceled the Playboy Club, of course anyone expecting anything different was seriously disillusioned. The fact that the show even made it to the fall line up is a miracle all on itself. 1960s Chicago at the Playboy Club - women running around dressed as bunnies but with a third-wave feminist approach to life. They know how they look and they're going to flaunt it. It's a way to get away with it but it doesn't quite hold up. Not all is peachy as the opening episode shows the newest bunny Maureen killing the head of the mob with her stiletto heel. It was a magnificent murder I have to say, especially for television but not a way to start a show that you want to continue. And if the bunny aspect wasn't risque enough then how about the secret group of homosexuals via for political power! Although NBC isn't as conservative at FOX it's still a little too conservative to tackle that subject. I really don't understand why the show wasn't on cable to begin with, that's where this show belongs so it can fully explore it's adult subject matter.

Of course the reason for the show was to compete with AMC's Mad Men which has been so successful for the cable network and NBC is not alone. ABC came out with Pan Am, another 1960s set drama focusing on the airline with a espionage subplot. With it's third episode being played today it might have more life than the Playboy Club as its more about nice America but it's boring. Christian Ricci does a nice job and its good to see her in something again but the show doesn't have anything to keep it going. The espionage sort of came out of the blue but isn't intriguing enough to keep interest. My main problem with it is that it's highly artificial. There is a lot of cheap CGI which just makes it painful to watch. The aesthetic is also very sterile. There's bright color that is used but its almost as if there's too much color. It basically feels like the show is shot at a hospital, a very strange aesthetic for a show and leaves the audience feeling misplaced.

Compare this with The Playboy Club where you have the dark streets of Chicago run by the mob and it's a whole lot more interesting. Jenna Dewan-Tatum (from Step Up) is great as bunnie Janie and has an interesting back story that begins to unfold while David Krumholtz (10 Things I Hate About You) struggles with the time period and just doesn't quite fit although he gets all the funny sarcastic lines like, "Who needs smart? You're the only man I know who puts his hand up a girl's skirt looking for a dictionary." Carol Lynne (Laura Benanti)  is a joy to watch, mostly what draws me I think is the singing. The music in the show is great which also makes this show much more enjoyable to watch than Pan Am. Amber Heard is super annoying at the blonde blue eyed new bunny, her voice just grates and I definitely don't really care what happens to her. She's too scared of a character and relies to heavily on Nick Dalton to save her. She's the kind of character that you want to get caught by the mob and found in the gutter the next morning. And her character is mirrored in Pan Am's Laura (Margot Robbie) whose also annoying and lost. In fact, both shows set up a strange combination of strong female characters with super weak female characters.

What I find really amazing is how white both of these shows are. Playboy allows for a African-American bunny with lots of things about civil rights so that was nice but Pan Am adds an Indian to the cockpit who is totally out of place. Of the two show, both of which feed on the success of Mad Men I would rather watch  The Playboy Club.With The Playboy Club's cancellation I'm not sure how much longer Pan Am will last. Of course the amount of time networks are giving new shows is ridiculous. The Playboy Club for three episodes and Free Agents didn't get much better, both airing on NBC. You would think that the networks would one: out more effort into finding things that people like and two: give the shows they have chosen a bit more time to find an audience. Now old shows, like the Simpson (granted airing on FOX) are given a longer lease on life and change is diverted. What we're left with is more of the same. This is the reason everyone moves to cable.

Glee - Asian F

 

I usually try to wait until a season has finished before writing about it but last night's Glee episode, "Asian F" inspired me to write. The third season of Glee has come back strong with lots more song and dance numbers which it had been lacking in the second season. This episode, focused on Mike Chang's struggles against his parents of them (or rather his father) wanting him to focus on academics while he wants to dance. What was so inspiring about this episode was the way the show shot Mike's struggle. I loved that they had him dance without any music. A bold move but one that paid off immensely. Seeing him stand up to his parents and try out for the musical, with a pretty nice voice was very rewarding.

Coupled with Mike's struggle was Emma's struggle which was a nice pairing and worked well against the drama diva-off between Rachel and Mercedes which I admit is getting a little old. Emma's freak out about her parents and her OCD symptoms coming back in full force was hard to watch because you felt for her. The song that Will sings is perfect for that moment. It just goes to show how much depth the show can have when it really wants it. Nothing has really come close to the emotional involvement of Grilled Cheeses but this episode does a pretty good job.

Doctor Who Series 6 Part 2

  

I wasn't really looking forward to the series finale of Doctor Who. The time between the airing of part one and part two was filled by Torchwood: Miracle Day and I would rather have watched that for longer than return to Doctor Who. After a dismal part 2 to series 6 I knew something would happen so that The Doctor wasn't going to die, since Matt Smith's signed up for another series, so the suspense and anticipation wasn't really there as it has been in previous series. It didn't help that Part 2 on the series has not been that great. It's been disconnected with the first part, lacking a clear connection until the very end and even then the connection was tenuous at best. There have been so many unanswered questions and makes it seem as if Moffat is unable to sustain a story arc without bringing together all the loose ends (not that Moffat is alone in this).

Having said that the second half does have some excellent stand alone episodes and three in particular which should be mentioned. The Girl Who Waited written by Tom MacRae is one of my favorite Doctor Who episodes now. It breathed new life into the show and although it was psychologically complex it wasn't as dark as other episodes have been. It wasn't so much about being scared but about being touched emotionally. It was definitely a box of tissues episode. I felt like it wanted to represent a turning point in the show but was then bogged down my Toby Whithouse's The God Complex which people seemed to love but I found to be a huge disappointment apart from David Walliams. In fact the second series had some really good guest appearances including Daniel Mays and James Corden. 

Which brings me to the next episode, Closing Time written by Gareth Roberts. After The Doctor has abandoned Amy and Rory he returns to Craig. I had a problem with The Doctor just leaving his companions, it was strange and wasn't really explained all that well. Basically it was used as an excuse to get rid of Amy and Rory even though they then showed up in the episode, it reeked of soap opera logic. Moving beyond that the episode had a good message which made it a good feel good episode. Again the show seemed to return to what it used to be about and had great humorous moments.

 

This was a strange episode to lead into the finale, not setting up anything important plot wise besides the cowboy hat which Craig gives him and we saw in The Impossible Astronaut. And finally we come to the series finale, The Wedding of River Song, written by Steven Moffat which although I'm not a fan of Moffat's Doctor Who I have to admit this was a pretty good episode and is my second all-time favorite Moffat episode just behind The Eleventh Hour. It had humor, adventure and mostly a well executed plot although I think it could have benefited from more set up from a previous episode - so a two part finale. The very beginning when the guy is eaten by all the skulls is super creepy but after that the darkness of the show fades into the background which was nice for a change. I did like the nod to Indian Jones with the "I hate rates comment" substituting rats for snakes. It set up the adventure aspect of the episode nicely. I also really liked the return of old characters when time is happening all at once, Simon Callow as Charles Dickens was the first acknowledgement of a time before the 11th Doctor which was also seen in The Doctor's comment about helping Rose Tyler with her homework. Yes there's River Song who first appeared in the Tennant Era but she was a Moffat creation so that's to be expected. It was still nice to have that connection to make it seem not so closed off from its previous incarnations. Allowing Doctor Who to not feel as if its only a Moffat creation which at times is how I feel the show has turned causing me to like Moffat even less. I guess to me it feels a bit egotistical but the inclusion of these little nods helped. 

The best part of the episode by far was Rory and Amy. Again Amy not really knowing who he is but Rory standing by his woman. Another witty line about his dying again and again and his perseverance of staying behind to defend the position even through the pain of the eyepatch. The eyepath in and of itself was an interesting prop that was shown in all the publicity images but I like what they did with it, it finally made sense why Madame Kovarian had been wearing one besides the cool factor of wearing an eyepatch. I just loved the fact that Rory had such a kick-ass character this time around - he's come a long way since his first appearance as a male nurse in The Eleventh Hour. And Amy also was a strong character in this episode and showed her muster from The Girl Who Waited, I mean she was wielding a machine gun! Fantastic. Killing Madame Kovarian was so shocking not only for Amy to do but also for a companion of The Doctor to do but it felt right and about time for her to show a little backbone and I loved her dialogue about River getting it from her. 

Of course we all knew that The Doctor wasn't going to actually die and I knew that The Doctor was going to ask the robot to help out, that's how it was set up but they could have done a better job of showing it. They showed The Doctor asking for help in a flashback to explain how he could be in the eye of the robot Doctor but you knew that's what happened so it was a waste of screen time. I had originally thought that maybe it would be the rebel flesh that came back to save The Doctor a death but the robot worked I just wish they had revealed it in a different way. 

The end was a bit rushed, another reason for having a two-part finale. It becomes extra confusing with trying to keep the timeline of River Song straight. Although Steven Moffat has expressed little confusion over her timeline in Doctor Who Confidential that's not that case, for audience members, or if not everyone is having trouble at least for me I'm finding it hard to follow. There's so much of her history that we haven't seen, most of it has been out of order and we've seen her death so it's quite a complex narrative to follow and there's still more to come since The Doctor really didn't reveal his name to her but she know because she tells the 10th doctor. 

What was good was the revealing of the question as a sort of cliffhanger. I was wondering if the question would actually be asked or if they would leave it, like they did in The God Complex without showing what The Doctor's room held. And boy what a question, it sparked a smile from me impressed by the ingeniousness of the question that same sort of jaw dropping quality I had with the end of each Torchwood: Miracle Day episode. 

Doctor who? 

And now we will become the audience who waited. 

Britain and Ireland's Next Top Model Cycle 7

Britain and Ireland's Next Top Model has come to an end after 13 weeks but who came up on top and did they deserve it? This cycle included not only girls from the UK but also girls from Ireland - perhaps there isn't a Next Top Model show in Ireland but it didn't really matter since the only Irish contestant was the fourth contestant to be eliminated. There wasn't a strong standing for the Irish. There does seem to be a strong standing for foreign immigrants in the show however that I find intriguing. 

I usually love the Next Top Model series, both the American and the British, but this cycle was a little lackluster for me. I think the main reason being was that I had seen the perfect cycle - cycle 5 - which nothing else can compare to. I have this theory about reality television that at least applies to me if no one else, but once I seen a season of  reality program where everything is perfect it's hard for me to continue watching (So You Think You Can Dance is my prime example after Benji won I didn't want to watch it anymore). I think because these shows are about finding the best at whatever the competition is for, i.e. modeling, dancing or singing that once you find one that is amazing what's the point of continuing to try and find another as you've already found the best. Of course this hasn't necessarily stopped me from watching but it's taken the enjoyment out of it a bit. 

I love the NTM series for the photo shoots and I cringe through the drama which is why I like watching BINTM a little bit more than ANTM because of the lack of drama. Although maybe lack is too strong of word as there are still moments of drama but no where near what it is in ANTM which lessens the cringe factor considerably. Of course without the drama and because largely everyone seems to be so nice to each other there isn't so much of a call for taking sides as an audience member. I don't feel like I'm all that invested in the contestants which is a hindrance because it lessens the chance of me returning to the show next week instead of waiting for it to be over and just using a Google search to find out the winner.

I had some problems with this series mainly disagreements with the judges, the most notable was when they eliminated Jessica after she had won all the challenges of the day. It showed that the challenges don't mean anything and that they're just a way to fill time between the photo shoots and the eliminations. It made me not want to continue watching because of that. It made it feel like the whole show was fake which to a large extent it is but it crossed a line by dismissing the content of the show by eliminating the winner of the challenges.

The final saw my favorite contestant, Jade going up against Juste who had been pretty consistent throughout the competition. I was really hoping that Jade would win but I knew that Juste had a better portfolio than Jade and she had been more consistent in her performances. The final runway show was nice to see, especially at the end when they had both Juste and Jade walk together. There were no mistakes by either of them and Juste had the advantage of being taller but at the same time Jade showed such energy that she popped next to Juste even though she was considerably shorter. I had come to the conclusion that Jade had won the runway challenge and should win the competition but did the judges agree with me? That's always where I get nervous and I'm not even a contestant but I think it steams from me wanting my judgement to be supported and why I try not to get too invested in the shows so if my favorite doesn't win it's not that big of disappointment. The judges though saw the same thing that I did and Jade was crowned the winner.

Step Up 3D

 

Step Up 3 is another dance film in a long line of films that tackle the same subject but with different actors and they increasingly get worse and worse. Like most films there's a formula and this one is no different. We have the love story that has problems and a bitter rivalry between two dance troupes. The plot is thin but its to be expected of this kind of film and you have to go in to it thinking that it's not going to be an artistic masterpiece so that you aren't disappointed.

Step Up 3 follows from the first two films with Moose as the only connection to the previous film and Camille from the first film (although I don't remember them). At least Moose can dance. Luke who leads the group, the pirates, cannot dance to really save himself. At the finale he's picked up enough to get away with it but his dance skills are not why he's in this film. He's there for the eye candy so he can take his shirt off instead of Moose, thankfully, and to drive home the message of following your dreams. I found it ridiculous to have a dance film with someone who couldn't dance, in fact most of the dancing I found was a bit lackluster, excepting Harry Shum Jr. (Mike from Glee) who shined in the background at the end of the film and the guy who does the robot dance. 

As a dancer myself I may be over critical and I'll admit that up front. The performances may have been entertaining for an audience member who has no dance experience and who is easily distracted by shiny lights and special effects. Which brings me to my final point and the use of 3D. Now I watched the film in 2D but could tell when things were suppose to be in 3D, when for instance it would be "cool" to see a leg come out of screen towards you. The problem with it being shot in 3D is that is was shot for 3D, which would seem a little nonsensical. It would be better that a 3D film is shot in the 3D format in the first place instead of trying to convert it after the fact. The problem with the dance film is that it detracts from the dance performance and its harder to see the full performance. Because the camera is so close to the body the movement of the dance is lost for the 3D effect which doesn't add to the film. You are not able to focus on the dancer but your focused or rather distracted by the extras, which may actually work to the films advantage given the overall poor dance skills. Even still it reminds of something Alan Davies talked about when filming standup comedy routines. Where the camera needs to be able to see the full stage as well as the medium shot of the comedian to get the full effect of the comedy as sometimes comedians are on the floor and out of shot of the static medium shot. This is the same for dance where the movement and performance is what's important and as the camera gets too close to make use of the 3D technology that has been so popular as of late it loses the performance aspect. 

It's best to see it with two contrasting performances between the first the third films in the Step Up series. Notice here that even with closer shots of individual dancers their movements can still be seen and other dancers are visible in the background who are mirroring the dancer the camera is focused on.

Now compare that with this performance from Step Up 3D where the body of the dancer obscures the camera and the view of the audience. It still follows the long shot medium shot format but the focus is away from the actual performance at least of the rival dance group and more on getting that 3D effect. My personal favorite is when the dancer spits on the camera. What class!

 

It's quite possible that the only person this bothers is me and it might not seem as annoying to others but it becomes more and more frustrating as the film goes on because it continues to do this. Even with my criticism it must be doing something right because they're making yet another one, what will that one bring?

Torchwood Miracle Day

In the beginning I was a little wary of the idea of the new series of Torchwood. Don't get me wrong I was thrilled about another series, especially since it would fill the gap until Doctor Who came back on but I was worried that the co-production with the American network Starz would be damaging to the show and its central location of Cardiff. However I think this may be the best series of Torchwood and the American storyline worked well while still keeping a hold on the Welshness.

Miracle Day! No one dies. The mortal become immortal and the only immortal man on the planet (newly returned from vacation) becomes mortal. Conspiracy is the name of the game for this series and the strength of the series is the unraveling of the events surrounding the miracle. Bureaucracy, politics and red tape play a major role and fits in with the American mentality but whether it translates the same in the UK is under debate. The series dragged a bit in the middle with the flashback to Jack in the 1920s and his relationship with Angelo but on the whole was really good and had really good cliffhangers at the end of episodes. I ended almost every episode with my jaw dropped. It kept me interested and I loved that.

It was nice to have Jack and Gwen back but Bill Pullman made the series. He was amazing and I would argue this was his best role. His character, a child molesting killer who survives execution and shows little remorse, he says at one point, "she should have run faster." talking about his victim. Needless to say, Oswald Danes is not the best person in the world but Pullman pulls it off magnificently. He's rather brilliant.  The other new stable characters to the decreasing cast of Torchwood includes Rex (Mekhi Phifer) and Esther (Alexa Havins). Esther was a bit of a letdown, especially for  Russell T. Davies character because she wasn't as kick-ass as his other female characters, but she did get a bit better in the end learning to sort of stand up for herself. Jilly Kitzinger (Lauren Ambrose) was snarky, fiesty and someone you love to hate. Dr. Vera Juarez (Arlene Tur) I really liked as a character, smart with a bit of sass through in, much more the caliber of female character that I'm used to with Davies and her end was tragic. Davies does know how to pull the rug out from under you. The best surprise for me was seeing John de Lancie.

I was surprised by the negative press the show was getting and I hope, rather unrealistically given the bad press and low ratings, that it will come back for another series. At this point I would rather watch Torchwood than Doctor Who because of the talent of Russell T. Davies and his ability to create a story that keeps me wanting more, always wanting more (i.e. not watching it just to watch it like I've been doing with Doctor Who), and for Davies ability of causing an emotional response that shows the amount I have invested into the show and its characters which I have done unconsciously. Davies is making Torchwood a show that stands apart from Doctor Who (sort of in the way that Angel stood alone from Buffy). I usually love hearing little references from Jack about The Doctor showing the series lineage, but maybe it's not needed and in fact those references are actual a hindrance because maybe for the first time, Torchwood is better.

Eureka 4.5

Season 4.5 dealt with the launch to Titan, Carter and Allison being together and Zane and Jo trying to figure out their relationship with the mishap of the 1947 time loop. The launch to Titan gave the show something to drive forward to as opposed to previous series where it was trying to find out what mysterious artifacts did and where they came from or trying to fight against Beverly. Thankfully after the beginning episodes Beverly was sidelined. I was upset or more disappointed with how the show is directing Zane and Jo's relationship as I really want them to be together and its frustrating all the obstacles they've put between them. The show has almost become a soap opera in that respect so I was very annoyed at the relationship between Carter and Allison seemingly destroyed but was happy when it was reinstated. I loved the conflict between Fargo and Parish. Most of that has to be from my enjoyment of seeing Wil Wheaton again on tv, especially after watching him as Wesley Crusher on Star Trek Next Generation again. But my favorite guest star of 4.5 came in the last episode with Dave Foley. So good to see him again. Colin Ferguson was superb and I think he gets better the more involved with the show he's getting become executive producer and directing a fair amount of the episodes.

This was the first season of Eureka that I watched while it aired, all the previous seasons I watched had already aired so I was able to watch all at one time where as with 4.5 I was forced to wait a week before the next episode. It added anticipation to my viewing but also more frustration, especially with the relationship aspects. I think the frustrating bits are common throughout television shows of once you get characters together you have to find ways to keep them apart so they aren't happy (and neither is the audience I mights add) to keep the show "entertaining." It seems to be a common fear that if a couple is happy the show can't continue to be enjoyable. Of course isn't that also a problem with real life relationships keeping things new and fresh while staying with the same person day in and day out? When will writers be able to have couples together without breaking them up ever other episode. I'm okay with a little obstacle for couples but when the show approaches the dimensions of a soap opera relationship there's a problem.

Having said all of that though I still found this season likable and I'm excited for the christmas special which I feel is unusual for American television. I guess I associate Christmas specials with British television. There are Christmas episodes that are built into the timeline of American shows but to have a Christmas special, outside the main timeline of the show is for me very British. Which by the way I have no problem with.

Unfortunately the end of Eureka is in sight and after the Christmas special there is the fifth and final season of the show. SyFy's cancellation came as a bit of shock for all parties involved and really I question Syfy's decision making process. At first when the cancellation was announced, Syfy have ordered a further six episodes of a sixth season but then went back on that and are now ending it with just the fifth albiet with an extra episode to bring to an end an entire new storyline. It will be a tough job for the writers and there will be countless disappointments which brings the question to my mind, when does a show outlive its welcome and become acceptable for its cancellation?

The phrase Jump the Shark has been most often used when shows have started their downward fall but those shows often continue while other shows are cut down in their prime.The curse of television is that it is never ending. Stories are recycled and shows could theoretically continue forever, albeit with cast changes, Doctor Who being a prime example where the cast changes have been imbedded into the shows mythology from the first cast change. Why are shows cancelled? Poor ratings are the usual culprit but even that isn't a good judge as Eureka does pretty well in the ratings game. But there's also a question of how those ratings are gather. We've all heard of Nielson ratings but they don't take in an appropriate summation of ratings for shows. Only a select demographic is used and a lot of the problem comes from advertisers and their needs which don't incorporate later viewings online and with DVR devices. It reminds me of episode 6 of season 1 of The West Wing where Toby  is able to convince Mr. Willis who has taken his late wife's seat in congress of his argument even though Toby left out some important information and was in fact taking advantage of him. Asking what changed his mind Mr. Willis says he made a good argument and brushing off the fact that he was take advantage of he says,

"I thought about that. It's OK by me, as long as it's not the same people who decide what's on television."

Misfits

  

"Misfits comes from the UK, is filled with unattractive and very annoying characters and is essentially Skins meets Heroes. So why do we find it so strangely compelling?" This is a quote taken from a review from Boxcutters and I think neatly sums up the Channel 4 show. I repeatedly saw it advertised on youtube but had been told that it wasn't good so it took me a while to finally watch and when I did I was torn as to whether or not the show was good or bad. Of course labeling a show good or bad comes with consequences and writing off a show completely doesn't account for some of the good points. Can a show ever be wholly bad or good? But enough of the philosophical lesson what was my reaction to the show.

I'm of the opinion close to Boxcutters, Misfits is a show that has taken a possible cast of Skins and meshed it with the plot of heroes with both pitfalls and triumphs. The series begins with a group of kids or rather young adults but really they all look so young that its hard to see them as in their 20s or maybe its the way they act that makes it seem weird that their supposed to be in their 20s. This bunch of misfits are together for community service and are caught in a freak storm which gives them special powers (Much like the solar eclipse from Heroes). As the series progresses we find out which characters have which power leaving Nathan who is immortal for the end. Simon (Iwan Rheon) turns invisible, Kelly (Lauren Socha) is telepathic, Curtis (Nathan Stewart-Jarrett) is able to rewind time and see things before they happen eventually also going into the future and Alisha (Antonia Thomas) who has the stupidest power to make people extremely attracted to her which is eventually more of a burden than anything because the people she touches get so wrapped up in the sexual frenzy they try to rape her.

Unlike Heroes and more in line with Skins the series isn't focused on the superhero aspect of their powers and they actually end up killing two people who threaten them, first physically and second by finding out about the first killing. They group isn't necessarily evil in superhero terms but they aren't golden either. The first series lacked direction a bit. It was like the writers didn't know what to do with these kids who had these powers that was something different from what has already been explored. The first series is really all about them killing their first community officer and then the second one finding out about it. The series ends with the "death" of Nathan at the hands of an ulter-conservative group controlled by someone else with powers.

The second series is where it all gets rather interesting. A masked man enters the scene saving different characters along the way. Alisha finds out that is is Simon from the future who has come back to save her so the future he knows will survive. Alisha who had previously been seeing Curtis breaks off their relationship as she falls for the future Simon. Thankfully Alisha's character gets more interesting as before she was just eye candy who was obsessed with sex but couldn't have it. Her relationship with Curtis was strange and they fell into a routine of masturbating in front of each other. Not exactly a fulfilling sex life which is ultimately their failing as a couple. Future Simon for some unexplained reason is able to touch her and their relationship doesn't take long to take off. She quickly falls of Future Simon but is conflicted when he tells her that she needs to love the present Simon so he can become the Future Simon she first fell in love with. It's a nice little love story that brought some fresh air and purpose to the series.

After Future Simon dies, the series continues with more and more people stepping forward who have powers and it become a national and in fact global phenomenon. Of course you have your evil people who are initially praised and then overlooked as more interesting powers come forward. Namely the guy who can move milk and dairy products which seems cool at first but when a girl comes forward who can heal with a touch he uses his power for evil instead of good. All is eventually righted.

The Christmas special finds a man who can take away powers and pays people for it. Alisha is the first to jump at the chance to help her budding romance with present-Simon and they are now living together in Future Simon's flat. Nathan takes up with a pregnant girl he meets and sells his power so he can help support her. All of them sell their abilities at the urging of Alisha but then Curtis's new girlfriend who had inherited a power after a heart transplant dies and Curtis is unable to save her. They return to the man to regain their powers but they don't necessarily get the same power, for example Curtis's power has already been bought by someone else and Alisha's power was bought by a corrupt priest whom they kill.

Before the start of the new series and with the news that Nathan (Robert Sheehan) is not returning channel 4 did a short film showing that Nathan had taken the power of a magician and is caught and put in jail for cheating a casino in Vegas. Although I wouldn't be surprised if he came back, at least there's a possibility of his coming back as he didn't die without his immortality. It also introduces the new guy who is taking over for Nathan.

I do think that the series has potential and I enjoyed the first two series although at times I felt like it had little direction the characters made up for it by being interesting.


Nathan was the most fun and he'll be hard to replace but as the series progressed I found myself drawn more towards Simon and I love what they have done with his character and his growing self confidence. However, we've seen his death so I know it's coming, although time travel can be tricky so it may be a long time coming of it could be in this next series. I'll keep my eye on it.