TV Review: DEXTER - Father Knows Best 1.9

DEXTER – “I built my life on Harry’s code. I lived by it. But Harry Lied. Why would he do that? What else don’t I know? My concrete foundation is turning to shifting sand. Maybe Rudy was right. You never can truly know anyone”.

Another great instalment to Dexter, and one which saw the Ice Truck Killer Rudy coming closer to his biological brother Dexter, I really enjoyed this one and again what I found really great were those flashbacks to Dexter’s childhood, a nice move given the subject of “Father Knows Best” and a real inside look into just who Dexter Morgan is and how he was brought up by Harry.

In “Father Knows Best” Dexter is informed that his biological father Joe Driscoll has died and left him everything he owned including his house, this is a strange one for Dexter as he was told that his father had died 30 years earlier. So, that means it’s time for a road trip for Dexter and Rita who go to clear out the house where they are soon joined by Debra and Rudy. The two serial killers strike a real chord with each other and funnily enough get on like “brothers”. This is enhanced further when Dexter does some snooping around in relation to the circumstances of his father’s death, he breaks into a building and
is helped out in his escape by Rudy.

That is the root of most of this episodes great flashback’s with the young Dexter constantly questioning Harry about the identity of his biological parents. We also found out about the mystery donor who gave blood to help Dexter out after an accident as Harry had forced Joe Driscoll to give the blood and help out his son. Harry told Dexter that he was protecting him by not revealing the identity of his father. The flashbacks were probably the best part of this episode for me, I think the intensity in scenes with the Ice Truck Killer will be getting better and better. The flashbacks are always great but in “Father Knows Best” they were so revealing, Dexter’s first season is a must for anyone looking to get into the show as the background story is so brilliant.

Away from all the excitement of the flashbacks and The Ice Truck Killer, my new found likability for Sgt Doakes was enhanced further. We know he was in the military now and whilst out on patrol with Batista he jumped out the car, chased and shot a guy who he says was part of a Haitian death Squad that he fought against in the forces. It was all about revenge for fallen comrades for Doakes and now he has to rely on kind hearted Batista lying for him as both Batista and Dexter give a very different account as to what actually happened to the guy. The reason I liked this was to see weather or not Batista would tell all to internal affairs as he was getting a hard time in the office, following his hard time Doakes still stands behind Batista and challenges people who question the decision that he made. As well as the Doakes side note Rita’s ex husband Paul also started to show his true colours this week which will no doubt come to a better story in the last few episodes.

For me “Father Knows Best” wasn’t the best episode of the first season but, I think it was very good in that it’s an important episode into who Dexter is, and maybe who Rudy really is. I mean that poor old lady across the street after Rudy the “Cable Guy” had been around, I guess she’s the next victim so, does that mean that Rudy killed Joe Driscoll
too? Knowing that would bring him and Dexter closer together. A must see episode for any Dexter fan.

TV Review: THE RIVER - A Better Man 1.4

I thought this was supposed to be the most terrifying show on TV right now, seriously. In the last two episodes The River has only succeeded in boring me never mind scaring me, how about you? Were you expecting the most terrifying new show on TV to be like the Paranormal activity movies you have seen? I don't really have to much to say on this episode, I'll still watch the show and if I feel that something was particularly good or scary then I will put something down but don't expect to much effort.

I did laugh whilst watching "A Better Man", that was because of something that happened during the "Pilot", you know when they decided to travel down uncharted waters. That got them into all sort of problems and in "A Better Man" they decided to do exactly that again, do they really think that's a good idea after what happened last time? I mean you wouldn't would you? I also laughed at the local fruit seller on his river boat, what was he doing there? You would think with all the local legend and myth the locals would steer clear of that area even when they are not being disrespectful of local tribal culture.

In was the insulting of that local tribal culture that brought about the weeks main story and introduced us to Jonas. Jonas was the cameraman working for Emmett during his expedition. We bumped into him hanging from a tree just as the group had started serenading each other in song, you knew something , erm "scary" was going to happen once they started to sing and I'm not talking about their voices, although I wouldn't recommend any of them audition for the X Factor.

Jonas was under a local curse named "El Colgado", the hanging man. The tale was narrated to us through our usual source Jahel who usually no one listens to however, this week they did as security expert Kurt had also heard of this. The found footage was used well again to show us why Jonas had fallen foul of the local culture but it also showed that Emmett had warned him of his actions and on finding out what he had done he threw Jonas off the boat leaving him for dead in the jungle.

Emmett was searching for "The Source" and a "Magical Tribe", it would seem that forms the main part of The Rivers story as we also know that Kurt is reporting back to someone regarding "The Source". I guess that's all going to become apparent in the next few weeks, could we say that Kurt is in contact with Emmett and purposely steering the group in another direction? It would be an uncanny little twist. Kurt won the vote as leader of the boat but everyone knows it's Lincoln who they listen to, unless Jahel is telling a local tale. Lincoln's leadership on the boat was rubber stamped when the footage of Emmett was found and he said he regretted his decision to throw Ashton, sorry Jonas (Ashton Kutcher, anyone?) off his boat proving that Lincoln had made the right decision.

So, not scary but still ok I suppose. I can say the only reason I watch this show now is to see how it concludes, there are only three episodes left after all.

TV Review: PERSON OF INTEREST - Risk 1.16

Person of Interest really does continue to get better week on week, even though "Risk" was very procedural in story it did deliver a major card at the end of the episode, one I've mentioned a few times before. As always the weekly story focused on the latest POI number to be doled out by Finch's machine, the story was ok I guess but not as good as some of the more recent offerings like Wolf and Cub. I missed Fusco this week to, nor was there any further character development with Reese and Finch.

This weeks POI Adam Saunders (Matt Lauria), a Wall Street proprietary trader and the biggest hot shot at Baylor Zimm investment firm. Saunders hot shot status is thanks to his own hard work and research, unfortunately that lands him in need of John Reese's help when he notices there are irregularities going on with the firms trading. Considering bankers are not the most popular people in the world right now Person of Interest done a really great job of rubber stamping that fact. I was kind of hoping that Reese would kick Saunders ass, unfortunately that wasn't to be as after all he was a good guy and it appeared that Reese much preferred being driven extremely fast through New York in Saunders yupee Porsche 911.

Like I said above the story line was very procedural, over the last few weeks I've come to expect more from Person of Interest as the weekly characters have become more interesting and seemingly played a part in the bigger picture. "Risk" was very stand alone in premise and didn't offer up anything new into the background of Reese or the illusive Mr Finch. I do have to admit though, sometimes just to see Reese kicking ass is enough and so far Person of Interest has delivered backing story at great pace. For that reason I'm quite happy that we can get back on with it in the next couple of weeks especially given the reveal at the end of this episode.

Lets talk about that big reveal now, the return of Elias. The gangster who controls New York that we first met in "Witness" when he appeared as a school teacher being bullied into doing bad things. We found out at the end of "Witness" who Elias really was and I said then that he would be back to cause Finch and Reese some more problems later in the season. I'm really looking forward to seeing how they do this story, is Elias going to become a more prominent figure in weekly episodes of Person of Interest? I hope he does and maybe we will see Elias with his own story arch taking us into a second season of the show.

Lets not forget Elias is not the only problem that Finch and Reese have, there is also elite computer hacker Root, I've no doubt that character will be back and I don't think it would be out of the question to suggest that Root either is or works for Elias. Judging by the way that Detective Carter put Reese through to Elias at the end of the episode who's to know that she can be trusted? Did it not seem a little odd to anyone else? Why would she be speaking with him, has she turned to the dark side? Maybe we are going to see a switch in roles with Fusco becoming a good guy fighting for the greater good whilst Carter in order to protect he career will lead Elias to Reese, she offered him up to his old CIA buddies remember?

Which ever way the story goes I'm sure it will be a great ride getting there, the weekly POI's will continue to roll in and Finch and Reese are going to face a tough battle week on week to protect not only the POI but also themselves. I for one can't wait. 

TV Previews: ALCATRAZ - Clarence Montgomery 1.8, THE WALKING DEAD - 18 Miles Out 2.10, SPARTACUS: VENGEANCE - Libertus 2.5 and THE RIVER - Peaches 1.5

Alcatraz looks like another promising offering with this weeks "Clarence Montgomery", thing is he's not a criminal. Clarence was sent to Alcatraz an innocent man and it would appear that they know about that however, he turns up in modern day San Francisco like everyone else and starts killing people. The traits of an innocent man? I think not.

Following The Walking Deads lack luster return to TV last week we were served up the mighty impressive "Triggerfinger" probably the best episode since the season 2 premiere. That was thanks largely to the fact that it wasn't based on Hershal's farm and instead they were in town. This weeks "18 Miles Out" looks like it will continue in that vein of form whilst the two main leads finally lock horns.

I always enjoy Spartacus and this weeks "Libertus" looks like another impressive instalment that will bring back another old face. As Spartcus' most trusted right hand man Crixus has been captured he is returned to Capua and is ordered to return to the arena as a Gladiator, only this time the odds are heavily stacked against him with his hands tied he faces three Roman soldiers and then the return of former Batiatus house champion Gannicus.

I said in last weeks preview that the Rivers "A Better Man" looked quite scary, I couldn't have been more wrong there really was nothing game changing. This weeks "Peaches" does look very creepy though, of course 30 seconds is not much to go on so we'll have to wait and see.

The River 1.4 - A Better Man review will be out in the next couple of days.

I have done some rooting around for Person of Interest and from what I can see on CBS listings this week will be a re-run of "Get Carter", go check out my review of that episode.

Person of Interest 1.16 - Risk review coming later today, hopefully.

TV Review: ALCATRAZ - Johnny McKee 1.7

Why have we all been complaining about Alcatraz so much? This weeks “Johnny McKee” was actually pretty impressive, certainly at the beginning anyway. Don’t get me wrong it could have been a lot better especially with the story in relation to Johnny but there were things mentioned at various points in the episode which may be throwing little clues our way as to just what is going on with all of these prisoners from 1963 showing up in modern day San Francisco.

If you caught the preview I put out for this on Sunday then you’ll know they were billing Johnny McKee as a psychopath, I suppose he was really he was prepared to do pretty much anything all because he had been bullied at school by some pretty girl. His modern day character seemed a pretty stark comparison from the one we saw in 1963 though. In the modern day he was very happy to kill people and thought very little of it, that didn’t seem to be the case in 1963 although he did kill the prison bully with extreme ease.

Dr Beauregard came out with something quite interesting during his effort to get Hauser to read to Lucy, “this so called reality we live in” is what he said. What is he referring to? Does he just mean the makeshift identical Alcatraz prison where he never seems to leave, or something else? Any guesses.

Why doesn’t Rebecca Madsen question Jack Sylvane further, I mean she is a detective right? Fair enough Hauser won’t allow her access and there are some pretty heavily armed guards on the doors but they never seem to speak so there is no worries they would shout for anyone. It just seems that for someone who goes the extra mile that Rebecca is currently doing that whilst walking backwards allowing Hauser to drip feed irrelevant info and even trying to stop her from asking anything to pressing when she is allowed access to prisoners. I really do like George Garcia, loved him in Lost but so far he is not really working for me in Alcatraz, he’s frightened of everything which in all honesty he shouldn’t be as he seems to be able to predict everything the prisoners will do on their return. I still feel that we’re not really getting anywhere development wise with these guys just yet. We did get some sort of little clue from Rebecca when she was talking about her grandfather she said that he used to talk about a hole beneath the hole, quite what that means I'm not sure but I think we will be getting to find out.

Alcatraz done really great with the flashbacks again this week, for me these scenes are actually better than the shows main three characters, they also go along way towards making you to want to vote for the bad guys. The reason for that is because of the back story we are delivered, if we got that more with Hauser, Rebecca and Doc then we may cheer a little louder for them week on week. Mind you, who's to say that they are flashbacks? The weekly prisoner Johnny Mckee was always reading a book that was suggesting the future is now. Is there a clue in there somewhere?

Like I said above “Johnny McKee” was a pretty good episode but it could have been so much better and I just wonder if Alcatraz is doing enough to keep the audience interested. Personally, I feel like I’m watching it just to see what happens I really don’t care about the individual story of the weekly prisoner for me Alcatraz fails where
Person of Interest thrives on the weekly story line. If they want to keep up the good mystery then I think they need some characters who can maybe deliver some decent action like the afore mentioned POI,your thoughts?

New UK Cinema Releases: 24th February 2012, SAFE HOUSE, ONE FOR THE MONEY, THE BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL and RAMPART

It’s a big week for movies if your off to the cinema this weekend you have one new romantic comedy, a classy action movie, one movie I have seen and trashed already and then some other effort starring Judi Dench which is apparently pretty good.

As always, it’s my top release first Safe House starring Denzel Washington, Ryan Reynolds, Vera Farmiga and Brendan Gleeson

I posted the trailer for Safe House a little while ago now and I have to be honest it does look pretty good, lets face it anything starring Denzel usually is. Safe House is the story of Matt Weston (Reynolds) a rookie CIA operative who is given the job of babysitting a CIA Safe House in Cape Town, South Africa. The easy babysitting job quickly goes down hill when the CIA’s most wanted rouge agent Tobin Frost (Washington) is brought in. Frost is quickly interrogated but before long the safe house is breached and Weston finds himself running with Frost in toe until they find another Safe spot.

This does look really good and out of the bunch this week it’s my top pick, I will be watching Denzel myself this weekend however, not in this movie I have The Taking of Phelam 123, any thoughts?

Next up is another movie that I’m likely to see, One For The Money, no. It’s not the prequel to Al Pacino’s Two For The Money, this stars Katherine Heigl, Jason O’Mara, Daniel Sunjata and Sherri Shepherd

Heigl plays Stephanie Plum, recently divorced she decides upon a new career path working for her cousins bail bond business. Her first assignment is to get on the trail of Joe Morelli (O’Mara) a wanted local cop who in the past she just so happened to be romantically linked to. There really isn’t anymore to say that that, Katherine Heigl is in it so there is a good enough reason for me to watch.

It screams The Bounty Hunter starring Gerard Butler and Jennifer Aniston which I didn’t mind so much, only difference being here it’s the female character who is the Bounty Hunter. It should be good fun and a lot better than Jason O’Mara’s TV offering of Terra Nova.

The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel now starring Judi Dench, Bill Nighy, Maggie Smith and Dev Patel

I hadn’t heard of this until I caught Dev Patel and Judi Dench on Graham Norton a couple of weeks back. The story is about a group of British retirees who are conned into travelling to India to what they think is a newly refurbished hotel, what they find is anything but however, the Marigold Hotel starts to charm in unexpected ways.

It’s not a movie I really want to see and I don’t think I will be rushing to the cinema but I think Grandma’s may enjoy it.

Last one to mention now Rampart starring Woody Harrelson, Ben Foster, Sigourney Weaver and Jon Bernthal

Rampart was reviewed by me before Christmas I thought it was pretty terrible considering all the Oscar hype it was receiving, I even fell asleep remember? Anyway if your still interested Harrelson plays Dave “Date Rape” Brown an L.A cop who was caught up in the real life “Rampart” scandal from the 90’s this movie charts his battle as the last of the renegade cops willing to do the dirty work whilst also trying to provide for his family.

Don’t expect any laughs here you simply won’t get them, what you get in my opinion is very long drawn out DMC’s (deep meaningful conversations) and very little action.

NOEL GALLAGHER Live At Newcastle Metro Radio Arena

I'm off to see Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds at Newcastle's Metro Radio Arena tonight, right now I don't really have to much to say other than I can't wait. I Just wanted to put something out for fellow fans who may be there tonight getting photo's and video like I will be, the reason? Well, I'll be reviewing the concert on this site tomorrow. I have a pretty good place in the arena but photo's and video's from all angles would be great. If you are lucky enough to get some on your iPhone, Blackberry, any phone really then send them to me here (marty@moviesmusicandtelevision.com) and hopefully I will use some of them for tomorrows review. Should we start a #tag on twitter, how about #NoelinToon?

Right now I think it's best we talk about what we have to look forward to tonight with some video's from a concert which Noel put on at the BBC Radio theatre, one official video and the BRIT performance from Tuesday I can't put all the video's here of course but I will run through a few of my favourites. First up "Everybody's On The Run", enjoy.

Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds was formed in 2010, the band is a solo act consisting of former Oasis guitarist and singer/songwriter Noel Gallagher who recently won NME's God like genius award, and rightly so. Backing up Noel are seasoned musicians starting with former Oasis session Pianist Mike Rowe, The Lemon Trees drummer Jeremy Stacey, bass guitarist Russell Pritchard from The Zutons and guitarist Tim Smith. The debut album was released on 17th October 2011 and "The Death of You and Me" was the first hit single to be released. 

Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds appeared live at the BRIT awards Tuesday 21st February 2012 where Noel was nominated in the Best Solo Artist category, unfortunately he finished with the runner up prize to Ed Sheeran (I suppose we'll let that one go). His performance at the BRIT's was of his latest single "AKA What A Life" featuring Coldplay's Chris Martin on piano, check it out in the video below.

The more video's and photo's we get the better, if I can't share them all here then I will put them across Twitter, Facebook and our YouTube channel, are you following the site? Make sure you do, come follow me on TWITTER, come visit us on FACEBOOK and you could also go check out our YOUTUBE channel, a work in progress admittedly but there will be more video's posted over the weekend hopefully.

Hope you enjoy the show tonight, I know I will. Don't forget #NoelinToon before during and after the show and come back to Movies Music & Television tomorrow for the review, which lets face it won't be bad.

TV Review: DEXTER - Shrink Wrap 1.8

DEXTER – “I can’t kill Dr. Meridian yet. I still need another therapy session”

Another brilliant episode from Dexter’s first season, I have the last three to watch now so as you know I’ve been waiting until I got the chance to write up these reviews before I watched the rest otherwise I would just forget. In “Shrink Wrap” the writing and the
acting were both brilliant but, it wasn’t just what was happening between Dexter and his next victim that got me. I’m really enjoying seeing Dexter with Rita, I have only seen Dexter like this in season 5 with Lumen, a character I hoped would be sticking around, I guess Julia Stiles has a pretty busy film career.

In “Shrink Wrap” the suicide of a powerful and wealthy business woman leads Dexter to believe that foul play could be at hand thanks to her psychiatrist Dr Emmett Meridian (Tony Goldwyn). In order to carry out his investigation thoroughly Dexter decides to book in for some therapy of his own in what would eventually become his kill room however, Dexter is surprised to find that his visits to the shrink start to open up deeper memories from his past which get him talking about both those and his relationship with Rita.

I’ll talk about that relationship with Rita first because that’s something that for me is getting better all the time, I’m not so into the relationship side of things although I do find it interesting as to why Rita stuck with Dexter all that time due to his awkwardness. It would seem though that all the visit’s to the shrink did eventually bring out the “Animal” in Dexter who finally got round to consummating the relationship. Anyway enough about that what I really like about the Rita story line is the re-appearance of her ex husband Paul Bennett (Mark Pellegrino), I’m really looking forward to see how his character is developed, mind you I just clicked his character name on IMDB and think I may have just spoilt it for myself with a brief summary of the first episode of season 2, oops. I do really like his character though especially in scenes where there is only him and Rita or him and Dexter for me he adds a real edge, I did touch on the fact a few weeks back that I thought Dexter would have to deal with him eventually and from the spoiler I just mentioned above it looks like I may be right.

Although I have known from the first episode who The Ice Truck Killer is, this is the first episode where fans find out that it’s Debra’s boyfriend Dr Rudy (Christian Camargo), Dexter’s brother, oops, you don’t know that yet, sorry. This reveal comes right at the end of the episode leaving us with a real nail biter going into the next but, it also tells us that Neil Perry is not The Ice Truck Killer as Lt La Guerta suspects when she goes over and over the evidence. Neil is undoubtedly creepy but not a killer.

Dexter’s kill is executed brilliantly as always following more flashbacks to his childhood, I love those. In “Shrink Wrap” Harry is teaching young Dexter about entry points, how to get in and out without being caught a tactic he uses to his advantage in finishing off Dr Meridian.

I have read a lot saying that “Shrink Wrap” was the best episode in the first season so far, I agree that it was very good more so in acting and dialogue, it was better than the previous offering “Circle of Friends” but I don’t think it topped “Return To Sender”. Now I’m getting caught up I can get on with the rest of the first season, just the last three episodes to go and I can’t wait.

TV Review: LUCK - Pilot 1.1

I can’t say that I was expecting to much from new HBO Horse racing drama Luck, the show is produced by and stars non other than Dustin Hoffman who heads up a pretty impressive cast including Harry Potter’s Michael Gambon and Hollywood star Nick Nolte. I have seen plenty of trailers for the show but nothing which really made me want to see it before it was released on UK TV. It premiered here in England on 18th February 2012 on Sky Atlantic HD in the 9pm slot, what struck me as a little strange was it’s premiere date, a Saturday night. I couldn’t tell you another show which goes out at this time or on a Saturday, although it is a welcome inclusion to what is normally Saturday night trash Luck may come a cropper in a about a months time when Britain’s Got Talent Starts and takes over our weekends.

In the show Dustin Hoffman plays Chester “Ace” Bernstein and in the “Pilot” we see him being processed for release from Federal Prison where he has served three years, I’m not entirely sure what for up to this point. He is picked up from prison by his friend and driver Gus Demitriou (Dennis Farina) also known as “The Greek”, watch it and you’ll probably figure out why. They quickly wind up at Ace’s pent house apartment where they are seemingly doing a deal to buy a $2m race horse. Being in Federal prison has its draw back though and Ace is not allowed to own a race horse meaning that Gus must do the deal on his behalf. Quite why he is buying a race horse is yet to be explained but since Ace didn’t smile once during this “Pilot” I’ll presume that he has something up his sleeve.

As you would imagine when Dustin Hoffman was on screen he pretty much owned it, even when he wasn’t talking, his character is seemingly some what of a former hard man, or at least persuasive to some degree. Three years in Federal prison would seem to have knocked the stuffing out of Ace though, either that or he has something far cleverer than violence up his sleeve.

Other than those two you have Walter Smith (Nick Nolte), or “The Old Man” as he’s referred to mostly. Walter is an employee (former trainer) down at that track from what I can gather and works with warm up riders who prepare the horses for races. He seems to have an odd affection for horses. Then you have horse trainer Escelante (John Ortiz) the person who Ace has purchased the race horse from, is he the one he is looking for revenge against? I suppose we’ll have to wait and see. We are also introduced to a group of gamblers who call themselves professionals, really they are just unemployed and want
easy money betting on “pick 6” horses, good luck to them I say.

The “Pilot” was a pretty impressive episode, boring in places maybe but I felt like I didn’t want my brain to wonder at any point, otherwise you may miss something central to the plot. It was directed by non other than Michael Mann and boy could you tell especially if watching in HD, the detail and everything that had been thought about right down to how horses look after their morning warm up was brilliant. The actual race scenes were also spectacular, at times you would think you were watching a real race that you have bet on yourself, you could treat this as a Saturday race night get your friends round and get the beers in. The scene where the horses leg snapped mid race, man, that made me wince a little but, showed realism into just how dangerous thoroughbred horse racing is.

Luck is a show that I didn’t think I would like, on saying that I can’t say that after the “Pilot” I’m crazy about it but I’ll definitely be back for another look. I struggle to see Dustin Hoffman as a hard man, maybe he has been trying to Fockerise us all for to long, who knows. One thing I do know is that this was a very decent “Pilot” and although horse racing doesn’t interest me in the slightest I am intrigued to watch and see where this revenge for three years in Federal prison story goes.

TV Review: PERSON OF INTEREST - Blue Code 1.15

I always look forward to Person of Interest, it’s my Friday night squeeze and seemingly gets better and better with every little turn. As for “Blue Code” I initially thought it may just be another one of those throw away episodes that we get every now and again. Luckily, that turned out not to be the case and this episode continued to prove that Person of Interest knows exactly where it’s going, then some. Seriously, I thought this was going to be just like one of my previous favourite episodes “Mission Creep”, the only difference being that this gang dealt drugs as apposed to robbing banks.

The story at first seemed pretty cut and dry, Finch had a new number belonging to Michael Cahill a jewel smuggler who seemingly liked to dabble in a little drug trafficking, he was a criminal, simple. Not so much, this is Person of Interest remember. Michael Cahill is actually Daniel Tulley, an NYPD undercover narcotics officer who has infiltrated a group hoping to reach the mysterious L.O.S. who he blames for the drug death of his younger brother. As always it was left to Reese to discover just why this was whilst Finch sat happily behind his computer hoping that Root wasn’t coming back to snoop around in his back yard.

It quickly became clear to me that “Blue Code” was going to be one of the better POI episodes, it seems they have all been pretty solid lately. What I liked most about this week was the more prominent featuring of Detective’s Carter and Fiasco, sorry Fusco. They played a major part in this weeks show and it would seem like Reese is starting to get ready to bring them in, that means one thing for us POI fans, hopefully another season of this great show. All the mystery up to now needs to be explained, is Reese really a bad guy? Personally I doubt it, what about Finch? If the last few weeks have proved anything it’s that he is not all he seems, did he kill Nathan Ingram? This will all take more than the remainder of this season, especially if it’s delivered at the brilliant pace it has been up to now.

We have talked before about just how corrupt every cop in Person of Interest is, it seemingly went all the way to higher management but, now we know there is a dirty cop handling files for undercover cops, most probably selling the info to criminals. And the CIA are in on it to, that was played brilliantly in “Blue Code” as we weren’t to know the mysterious L.O.S. was actually a CIA operative until pretty much the end of the show, he got arrested as the cop promised and we can now presume thanks to Agent Cole (Reese’s nemesis) that L.O.S. has had his duty terminated. I think all this corrupt cop stuff is going to come back to “Witness”, remember Elias? He runs New York and as we know Reese didn’t kill him so, is he part of the bigger picture here? I guess we will have to wait and see.

It was great to see some more of Reese’s back story again this week, the last few episodes have focused more on Finch. Like then “Blue Code” used neat little CCTV views to go back to Reese’s time in the CIA. We now know that Reese’s wife left him for another man, a man who was suitably better for her than he was, most probably due to his job. I still don’t think he killed her though, if I’m any judge I’d say Agent Snow needs rid of Reese for a reason and that might just be it.

Once again Person of Interest delivered on every level, plenty of action, good story and solid performances from all the cast involved, Reese even got tortured. Person of Interest is getting better and better with every episode, I think this and Spartacus would be my picks of every week right now and I can’t wait for next weeks “Risk”.

Movie Trailer: THE BOURNE LEGACY Starring Jeremy Renner

“There was never just one”

Bourne is back, but not as we have known him before. This time Jeremy Renner takes the lead as super assassin Aaron Cross. No Matt Damon to kick ass this time but let’s not worry about that right now, plenty has been made of this movie and rightly so. Looking at this first trailer you can see why, it looks like it may well be the best one yet. Plenty old faces from the original series will return along with a new team in Jeremy Renner, Rachael Weisz and Edward Norton.

There really are not to many plot details kicking around right now, what I can tell you is that this movie picks up right where The Bourne Ultimatum left off, and we know Jeremy Renner is the assassin. It’s a new team of people left to pick up the pieces of what Jason Bourne left behind. That’s pretty much it to be honest. Take a look at what has got to be one of the most action packed minute and a half trailers I have ever seen and don’t forget to leave you comments letting me know what you think below.

I AM LEGEND 2 and HANCOCK 2

Could we be seeing I am Legend 2? It looks like it according to Deadline Warner Brothers have closed a deal with Ovebrook Entertainment to make another I Am Legend following their hit 2007 movie starring Will Smith. They are yet to announce weather the movie would be a prequel or a sequel, the latter may be more difficult as I remember Will Smith running into a group of Zombie looking sorts and blowing himself up along with his lab. I can see where there will be room for a prequel as the story in I Am Legend picked up as the man made virus had took over the world and people were being transported out of New York City, leaving Will Smith to carry the movie himself for the following two hours. That would leave plenty of scope for a movie running up to this.

Will Smith is yet to be back on board with the movie, saying he won’t commit until he has seen a script. Clearly though Warner Brothers are wanting to cash in on what was a massive box office hit grossing $584m worldwide, if they want Smith’s signature then I would imagine it would cost them at least $25m, small change when movies are making this sort of money. Asides from talk of I Am Legend 2 Will Smith is also in talks to bring back his unconventional Superhero character Hancock, again the movie is only in talks right now.

TV Previews: THE RIVER 1.4 - A Better Man, SPARTACUS: VENGEANCE 2.4 - Empty Hands, ALCATRAZ 1.7 - Johnny McKee, THE WALKING DEAD 2.9 - Triggerfinger, PERSON OF INTEREST 1.16 - Risk

I haven’t done one of these posts for quite a bit now, no reason really other than I just haven’t had time. Not really, I was deciding which shows I should feature from the New Year line up and think I have it now, it’s a post I enjoy and it does well viewing wise so let me know what you think.

First it’s The River, I was really impressed with the two part opener but not so much with the third offering. It claims in this trailer to be taking America by storm, I find that hard to believe since its opening show got over 7 million viewers by the third that had dropped by half. In “A Better Man” it looks like The River will be getting back to what it done well at first, scaring us. Take a look and let me know what you think.

I have thrown Spartacus: Vengeance in firstly because it’s a show I love, it goes out in America Friday’s so this one is more for my English readers who like me will be watching this tomorrow night on Sky1HD. “Empty Hands” surely refers to the fact that Glabers latest Roman Legion have returned empty handed, well without Spartacus anyway but what will happen with Crixus who last week was captured allowing Naivia to escape.

This far Alcatraz has been a really disappointing show, the pilot was good, it sloped off but in the last two weeks it has made a little bit of a comeback for me, still not great but getting there you could say. For me “Johnny McKee” seems like an interesting story and I hope that we are allowed some more backing story into our main cast.

I have to be honest in relation to The Walking Dead, I do think it’s a good show but at times it just bores me shitless, last weeks return “Nebraska” was one of those episodes but I couldn’t think of enough words to cover my previous remark. Now that’s out the way though the show should hopefully start to pick up and hopefully people will start
to follow Shane rather than Rick, that way we can get back on theroad.

Last but certainly not least is my favourite Person of Interest, unfortunately I couldn't get a better preview other than the video below. It's not the best but from what I gather there is a new POI as always, he seems to work in Wall Street and is the most dangerous yet.

Person of Interest 1.15 - Blue Code review coming tomorrow.

Review: DEXTER 1.7 - Circle of Friends

DEXTER -  “The FBI estimates that there are less than 50 serial killers active in the United States today. We don’t get together a conventions, share trade secrets or exchange Christmas cards…. but sometimes I wonder what it’s like for the others. The only sound I hear, the only sound in the entire world… is my heart beating”.

I have to say that following the magnificent “Return to Sender” I was really disappointed with what “Circle of Friends” had to offer, I understand that they can’t all be as tense, satisfying and near to the edge as the last episode but I was hoping things had moved up a gear following all of the developments last week, lets remember this is 7 episodes now and we still haven’t met (officially) the Ice Truck Killer.

Given last weeks extremely close call Dexter has clearly decided that to kill anyone again so soon would probably not be in his best interests, maybe he has decided that to kill anyone other than the Ice Truck Killer would be a bad move, as he needs to ensure that his play mate is well and truly out the picture as he can’t afford anymore costly slip-ups.  This is where Dexter’s problem lay this week, he had considered killing again, Jeremy Downs is a kid Dexter let go previously believing that the person he killed deserved it, proved wrong Dexter is just considering his options when Jeremy is busted and sent to prison. Not long after that Deb and Batista believe they have identified the Ice Truck Killer in Neil Perry, a taxidermist with a history of mental illness, arrested and interviewed he admits to everything Dexter’s “Circle of Friends” or play mates as they are sometimes described are dwindling.

(Major spoiler ahead, if you haven't seen this episode then don't read any further)

Something doesn’t sit right though, Dexter has seen the work of the Ice Truck Killer, someone who is a true professional, a doctor perhaps?  Doctor Rudy, who’s looking after Tucci and Deb is just about to ask on a date…..Yeah, I spilt the beans, he’s the Ice Truck Killer, they were sort of spilt last time round but just in case you missed it there you go. Of course non of them know that about Rudy yet, he's just Deb's great new boyfriend that Dexter doesn't really want to know but is forced to hear about.

This wasn’t an episode that I was overly impressed with but it did have it’s moments. This is the episode where we are first introduced to Paul Bennett (Mark Pellegrino, Lost’s Jacob) the abusive, violent tempered and recently paroled ex husband of Rita. Dexter asks her when did you first notice he had a dark side? She replies by telling Dexter that she always sort of knew and didn’t think she was worth anything more until she met Dexter. Funny as Dexter says “I have a dark side to” Rita laughs and shrugs off such a suggestion saying “your not like Paul, you don’t hurt people”, Dexter comes back with “Innocent people, I don’t hurt innocent people” a great little line with Dexter
confessing in someway that he does have a dark passenger, maybe trying to make Rita aware of who he is

I’m really starting to enjoy Doakes too, In “Circle of Friends” Dexter is paying particular attention to a dead body going over it in his usual careful manner rudely interrupted by Doakes who says “did you get a hard on there Morgan?”. They should have kept does in the show for the quirky little one liners if anything. As well Doakes is the only person who has really ever suspected Dexter of anything other than Quinn in season 5, for me though Desmond Harrington does not have quite the same presence on the screen as Erik King. Suspicion of odd behaviour is usually pointed in the direction of Masuka, another funny character who was this week asked to provide his finger prints by Deb who suggested that he my be the The Ice Truck Killer.

I don’t really have a great deal to say on this episode, I felt it was very much about going through the motions, things will no doubt start to get more interesting from here in relation to the Ice Truck Killer, and the return of Paul Bennett. Dexter can never really fail for me though and I can’t wait to get on with the rest of the first season.

New UK Cinema Releases: 17th February 2012, THIS MEANS WAR, EXTREMLEY LOUD AND INCREDIBLY CLOSE and GHOST RIDER: SPIRIT OF VENGEANCE

Three good movies out this week all of which you would probably call box office hits, the first has been nominated for an Oscar, the other is a sequel and then you have the one I’m most likely to see, read this blog often? Then you probably know the reason for that. Otherwise, keep reading and I’ll explain.

Ok, the one I’m most likely to see is This Means War starring Reese Witherspoon, Tom Hardy and Chris Pine.

I suppose you could call This Means War a chick flick, I don’t think you would be far wrong with that assumption. The movie follows two CIA agents Tuck (Hardy) and Foster (Pine), the two have been partners for years but come to heads against one another when they find out they are both dating Lauren (Witherspoon), it’s pretty simple really. I will watch it because my wife will probably want to see it plus following Inception I’m a massive fan of Tom Hardy, at least that’s the excuse I’ll use when I write the review.

It’s what most of us consider a popcorn flick and rightly so, as it’s nothing that hasn’t been done before. The thing that will pull in the numbers and dollars is the fact it’s two main stars Reese Witherspoon and Tom Hardy are such massive box office draws.

Next one to mention is Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close starring Thomas Horn, Tom Hanks, Sandra Bullock and Max Von Sydow.

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close follows the story of Oskar Schell (Horn), a nine-year-old amateur inventor, Francophile and pacifist. Oskar’s father died in the September 11th attacks of The World Trade Center, he leaves a mysterious key for Oskar who searches New York City in order to find the matching lock.

I have to be honest I only heard of this last week when I saw a trailer on IMDB however, it’s still a favourite to win an Oscar for best Picture. From what I’ve read about it, I don’t think it’s something that interests me.

Last one to mention this week is Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance starring Nicholas Cage, Violante Placido, Ciaran Hinds and Idris Elba.

I never saw the first one, how about you? For that reason I really can not tell you that much about this movie. Johnny Blaze is hiding out in Eastern Europe, I'm presuming for what ever he done in the first movie. Johnny is called upon to stop the devil who is trying to take human form.

It’s in 3D, first one wasn’t. It stars Idris Elba, that can only be a plus point. But, in all seriousness from what I’ve heard of the first movie it’s not all that good and for that reason I probably won’t be watching this one either. I may watch the first one on TV, oh wait…. It was on last week and I decided to watch something else, never mind.

TV Review: THE RIVER 1.3 - Los Ciegos

Following the impressive two part opener I was really looking forward to seeing how The River was going to move on, other than Keifer Sutherland's Touch and Spartacus Vengeance this is the show which has impressed me most so far this year. Roll up "Los Ciegos" (The Blind) a disappointing and somewhat boring episode which neither felt here nor there. Don't get me wrong "Los Ciegos" did have it's good bits which I will discuss but, if you have come to The River looking for super scares then I'm afraid "Los Ciegos" simply won't provide them.

I still love the way The River is filmed from the first person point of view, to me switching from the main shows HD to the shaky hand held camera is what works so well adding to the suspense for those scary moments. "Los Ciegos" had all that again but not the pace which we had endured throughout the opening two hours. I find that at times I do have to remind myself that we are watching found footage.

"Los Ciegos" saw the crew continue there search for adventurer Dr Emmett Cole, having ran into some supernatural difficulties during their previous effort the crew would be hoping for a nice quiet ride the rest of the way. Unfortunately for them they ran into The Morcegos, a local tribe who protect the Jungle from selfish foreign visitors. The Morcegos blind their enemy and then observe them deciding weather or not they are worthy of seeing the Jungle and continuing their journey.

The Morcegos where admittedly creepy but, scary? Not so much, we got to see them quite early on in the episode which for me took away from any mystery. Weather The Morcegos were real or not is another question, it may be that they are so talked about in local myth that they have become real to people. The eyeless Morcegos were probably at their scariest whilst trying to break into Tess' room via the skylight.

I still think that Kurt is going to be one of the best characters, a mercenary hired as security for the team is clearly working on behalf of some mercenary group in order to find the "source", when he went blind he made a call via his (not so) secret satellite phone asking for an Extraction from the Jungle. I think it will be interesting to see where this story goes, who are the group? And what is the Source? I'm presuming that it's not the source of the Amazon river they are looking for.

So, to cap things off there really isn't that much I want to say about The River this week, it was good, just not as good as the two part opener. Of course I'm not going to let one episode put me off watching the show, it's just a short season with 5 episodes left so I will be back for more. I of course want answers to the shows biggest questions up to now, what happened to Emmett Cole and what "source" are they looking for? The River continues next week with "A Better Man".

Blu-ray Movie Review: SHUTTER ISLAND (2010) Starring Leonardo DiCaprio

My latest rental from LOVEFiLM turned up last weekend and I put off watching it for a while, probably due to the fact that there has been so much on TV lately but, more importantly I though it may be a little scary, only kidding. Shutter Island is a movie that I have wanted to see for a long time but suppose I just never got round to it. Now that
I have finally seen it the ending didn’t really shock me as I knew there was a twist in store. Will I give that twist away, well let’s see.

Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Mark Ruffalo, Sir Ben Kingsley, Emily Mortimer, Patricia Clarkson and Max Von Sydow

The Plot

Teddy Daniels (DiCaprio) is a U.S Marshall, it’s 1954 and he and his partner Chuck Aule (Ruffalo) have been sent to Boston’s Shutter Island Ashcliffe Hospital for the criminally insane, whilst there they are to investigate the disappearance of a patient. Things on the
island are not all they seem and Daniels finds his investigation methods hampered when Dr Cawley (Kingsley) denies him access to the patients records. Daniels begins to think that he has been drawn to the island as part of a sinister plot. A hurricane then breaks out cutting off any communication with the main land causing more dangerous inmates to escape and before long Daniels begins to doubt his own sanity as the puzzling clues mount up.

The Verdict

I’ll say first off that if you are planning on watching Shutter Island then you better make sure that you clear your schedule, at 2 hours 20 minutes it's a bit of a haul and requires all of your concentration, especially if you want to pick up all the little clues it throws you pretty much right from the beginning. It's one of those that straight off I really didn't enjoy to much but looking back and thinking of everything about the movie you realise how brilliantly crafted it was.

It's a thriller sitting on the fence of horror that will leave you with a lot of questions. Shutter Island is a movie that I think would be best to watch more than once, during the first viewing you are so engrossed in what DiCaprio's character is investigating that you forget to watch what is actually going on, I don't want to give to much away but lets just say that on the second viewing you will force yourself to watch the movie from a different angle altogether.

As far as the acting goes well, it goes without saying really. I thought DiCaprio was amazing in Inception and like I said there you can see why so many big directors and producers want to work with him. Sir Ben Kingsley speaks for himself and in Shutter Island along with Max Von Sydow the pair prove a more than admirable match for DiCaprio. I really didn't know to much about Sydow before seeing this, I've no doubt that I have seen him before but jut don't know where, along with Kinsgley the pair play a blinder as the seemingly shifty unconventional Doctor's.

Shutter Island is a must see movie, that will leave you thinking, what just happened? Accompanied on the Blu-ray disc are two of the best movie extras I have seen which provide a real insight into the story (keep reading for those). If you are looking for a movie which does not require much effort then Shutter Island probably won't impress you to much, otherwise strap yourself in and enjoy the ride.

Sound and Colour

Pretty amazing as you would expect, the dark scenes definitely have added intensity with their dull lighting and creepy characters. The sound was brilliant with the stand out moment for me being the initial approach to the Island, what appears to be fog horns turns into a blistering sound track.

Blu-ray Special Features

Behind The Shutters - Don't watch this until you have seen the movie as it gives the plot away.

At nearly 17 minutes long Behind The Shutters is one of the most insightful movie extras I have seen, not that I watch many, only on Blu-ray for the sake of these reviews. I loved watching this, very interesting especially hearing from the author of the book, his take on the movie and the actors involved but also to see how respectful DiCaprio was of the author, the ideas he had for the character of Teddy but didn't want to commit to in case that was not what the writer wanted for the character.

very clever the way the author of the book explained how he sneaked in the first clew that Teddy was not as he seemed when Ruffalo could not unstrap his gun, then the nurse's who were giving him cocky answers during their de-briefing of the escaped patient.

Into The Lighthouse - Again, don't watch this if you haven't seen the movie otherwise you will spoil the ending.

I'm really not one for extras but Into The Lighthouse and Behind The Shutters are probably the best I have seen up to now, this wasn't quite as good as the last but I still found it interesting. As it suggests this is a look into the character of Teddy and his visit to the lighthouse, but before we go there it runs through the sequence of his personal problems, or demons which have put him where he is. The feature explores the avenues of mental illness that someone would be in and there is an interview with a real psychologist who worked on the movie. It also takes a look at the location at which the movie was shot.

I wasn't crazy about the movie but, it is interesting what you find out about afterwards when you watch the extras, and I have to say that on seeing these scenes it helped me understand a little better as to what the movie was about and the idea behind it.

The Music

It was brilliant, I'm no lover of classical music but that opening sequence on the boat when they were travelling to Shutter Island, the music makes that scene just like in DiCaprio's previous movie Inception the music score was exceptional and really added to the intensity of the movie, and I say that even when I didn't enjoy the movie so much.

Would I watch it again?

I think I would actually, I may not have enjoyed it as much as Inception but I think it's one of those that watching a second time you will figure a lot more out.

Rating: MMM