This really is the best show on TV right now isn’t it? Person of Interest was back from a three week break which in all honesty felt like a life time given the other garbage we have on TV right now. Following “Flesh and Blood” you were left wondering who the enemy would be now for Reese and Finch, question answered still Elias really as he runs the corrupt sector of the police force know as HR. There are of course other enemies and possibly a new HR leader now, “Matsya Nyaya” dealt with all of this brilliantly whilst also providing the story arc which will surely flow into the second season.
One of the best things about Person of Interest for me is the realism and believability, ok some of the stories are a little far fetched and the lines of dialogue between Reese and Finch are at times cheesy, but it’s the action which does it for me. John Reese is a guy like anyone else, yes he can kick ass but he isn’t invincible and when he gets kicked punched or indeed shot it hurts and Person of Interest doesn’t shy away from showing us that.
“Matsya Nyaya” translated to English means “law of fish”, the meaning in this episode, there is always a big fish and big fish live by laws. That brings me to the biggest fish of them all Elias, who you would think will run his criminal empire from prison, he still might, but clearly when he is away Captain Lynch is the head of HR. Not now as Fusco killed him, could Fusco be a bigger fish than we first thought? I think maybe he can, let’s not forget before Reese got into him Fusco was into all kinds of corruption, during that time I’ve no doubt that he worked himself up the ladder in someway, maybe even as Elias’ inside man. Honestly, I wouldn’t rule that out.
The main story this week was really entertaining, that isn’t always the case. The vast majority are procedural and pass us by as we watch the main story unfold in the background. I suppose the same could be said for this procedural as it did pass by whilst all the excitement happened in the background, but this one had a few unexpected layers and this weeks POI was in fact the victim and the perpetrator, you knew that Reese would win the day but it did add an extra dimension.
The flashbacks on Person of Interest are always so well handled and this week was no different as we were taken back to 2010 when Reese was sent with partner Cara to China in order to protect some genius computer software (any guesses) which needed to be extracted from a no go zone. So this was Reese’s first involvement with “the machine”
although he didn’t know at the time what he was getting into, it also delivered to us the reason the CIA want him dead. Did you recognise the female CIA boss? Yeah, she is the one who met with Will Ingram a while back in New York, a pretty hard nosed woman you would think, yet she didn’t know how quick to get out of there when Harold Finch’s name
was mentioned. Yet another nod to fish, Finch is clearly a bigger fish than that of a geeky software engineer.
Just when you are sitting thinking to yourself that “Matsya Nyaya” is one of the best episodes yet, the final scene throws in another brilliant story arc, Reese’s partner Cara alive and well in New York eliminating the very CIA agents who tried to kill her. That’s good news for Reese in my opinion as Cara and him didn’t have any beef with each other they were simply carrying out an order from the CIA, who let’s face it wanted neither of them to return. So, now you would think that Cara will track down Reese and she can join his ever growing team.
Person of Interest really is bubbling towards an immense finale and I’m really looking forward to the second season, I've never known a show which give such depth to a machine, one which it would seem everything revolves around. I have some more questions that I would like answers to now. Is John Reese really a bad guy? He didn’t shoot Cara after all. Just who is Harold Finch? And, why are the CIA so frightened of him? Is Fusco a major fish? Or just caught up in a situation he can’t control? And finally is Cara the mysterious computer hacker Root? I suppose will have to wait and find out.
All of the latest trailers for your favourite US TV shows as always here at Movies Music & Television.
Game of Thrones 2.5 – The Ghost of Herrenhal
Oh, ok so I finally know who the blonde lady walking through the desert is, she is air to the Throne, or at least that’s what she says anyway. She will have to join the que, which incidentally is quite long right now. I stopped reviewing Game of Thrones for one reason,
there is just far to much going on for a newcomer like me so I made an informed decision to keep watching but stop reviewing. I will probably do some sort of season review when it wraps, as for “The Ghost of Herrenhal” I really could not tell you what’s going on in this clip.
Awake 1.10 - Slack Water
Just a quick note on Awake this week, I haven't watched "Game Day" yet I plan to do that tonight. For that reason I haven't watched this preview yet so let me know what you think.
NYC 22 1.3 - Thugs and Lovers
I didn’t review the second episode of NYC 22, reason? Well I just didn’t really find it any different from the “Pilot”, which was procedural but good. I really wasn’t excited about anything last time round so decided not to bother. The latest offering of “Thugs and Lovers” looks ok in this thirty second or so clip where the rookies help stop a bank robbery. It looks good but weather my opinion changes from the second episode will depend on weather I review the episode or not.
Person of Interest 1.21 – Many Happy Returns
Following what was one of Person of Interest’s best episodes in “Matsya Nyaya” (review coming tomorrow) I got to thinking on what they could follow it up with, we are on the run to the season finale now and this show really does just get better and better, never failing to disappoint and “Many Happy Returns” doesn’t look like it will change that anytime soon. The machine pumps out yet another SSN for the team to deal with, but this one’s different and Reese feels the need to go rouge in order to show the guy “what a real monster looks like”.
Well, it’s Friday and as always I’m here with all the latest UK cinema releases. It would seem that many movie companies have simply not bothered this week and with very good reason too. Today sees the UK release of Avengers Assemble better known as the Avengers, it's had to change its name here in the UK due to the original Avengers movie
being released here some time ago, or at least that’s what I think Mark Ruffalo (The Hulk) told Graham Norton last Friday night.
As you’ve probably guessed from those first few lines the first movie and only one I’ll be covering in any detail this week is The Avengers, I’m going to call it that because in all honesty I think Avengers Assemble sounds terrible, nothing like a movie title, more like something Sam L, leader of S.H.I.E.L.D will be shouting during the movie. Anyway The Avengers stars Robert Downey Jr, Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, Samuel L Jackson and Gwenyth Paltrow, an impressive list I’m sure you’ll agree.
S.H.I.E.L.D is the worlds leading peace keeping agency lead by director Nick Fury (Samuel L Jackson), his only super power that I know of is that he’s so mother f**king cool. Any how World peace is about to be interrupted by some dude named Loki (Tom Hiddilston) and Nick Fury is forced to “Assemble” a group of superhero’s including Iron Man, Captain America, Hawkeye, Black Widow and The Hulk in order to help keep the peace, check out the trailer and let me know what you think and indeed if you already have your movie ticket ordered.
You know me I’m no fan of comic books, can’t say I’ve ever read one. I only figured out who S.H.I.E.L.D were when I watched Iron Man 2, I’ve never seen Captain America, don’t know who either Hawkeye or BlackWidow (other than seeing Scarlett in Leather for Iron Man 2) are, and I’ve only seen the Lou Ferrigno and Eric Bana versions of the Hulk. Let’s just leave it with I’m not authority on anything to do with Marvel comics but I do want to see what all the fuss is about and watch this movie.
Now, as I explained above not really much else out this week and let’s face it you only came here to read my witty humour and check out The Avengers trailer, right? So, in order to release a movie the same week as that one above you better come up with a good name that captures peoples imaginations, some options (also released this week) Damsels in Distress, Albert Nobbs and The Monk, they don’t quite cut it do they? So they came up with Strippers vs Werewolves. Now, as you’d imagine I’m a guy so naturally I’m going to click on anything that says strippers, especially if the word “male” doesn’t come before it. In this case clicking will be as far as I go, I can’t even be bothered to give you the synopsis of this crappy cheap as shit movie. So, instead just watch the trailer have a laugh and then go back to the top and watch how people go about making a proper movie.
This season of Dexter really is shaping up to show the promise everyone has been telling me, I thought the season premiere “It’s Alive” was good, but this served up better again. Kind of like the first episode this one saw a couple of loose ends which needed to be tied up (literally) from the premiere. The episode still served as a little bit of a continuation for me as everyone was still getting over their various encounters with Rudy (Christan Camargo), The Ice Truck Killer. That was until FBI Special Agent Frank Lundy showed up in order to setup a joint task force with Miami Metro to catch The Bay Harbour Butcher.
Lundy is famed throughout the FBI for his investigation skills into serial-killers, but has he got what it takes to match the skills brought by Dexter, The Bay Harbour Butcher, a title he seems quite proud of. I don’t know but I’m inclined to think that maybe Special Agent Lundy might get somewhere near to Dexter Morgan in this case, but I’ve no doubt that our favourite blood spatter lab geek will have some brilliant way of tampering with the evidence to point in some other direction.
Rita started to get into a bit more of the mood I was expecting her to with Dexter, her ex Paul was killed in a prison fight in the previous episode and she did listen to what he had to say about Dexter. Although she didn’t admit it to Paul she had followed things up and
finally started to ask Dexter some serious questions, the kind of which have backed him into a bit of a corner where he has had to admit to being an addict, really Dexter was using this as a way to get something off his chest, he is addicted to killing after all, but Rita took it in the opposite way and thinks her new perfect man is actually a Heroin addict and forced him into rehab.
Now to one of those loose ends, and the part of the episode which intentionally or not provided me with a little light relief. In the previous episode a young gang banger was killed by a dude named Little Chino, a man who it would appear runs Miami with an iron fist, or maybe a machete, however you look at it. That forced Dexter into a decision in “Waiting To Exhale” and very early on he shot up “not so” Little Chino with a double dose of M99 before strapping him to the table, however indecision was about to get the better of him and Huge, sorry Little Chino escaped. Dexter now has a problem, he needs to find
Little Chino before he finds him.
Dexter is left feeling guilty when a woman who came forward as a witness is murdered by Little Chino, something which wouldn’t have happened if Dexter hadn’t been indecisive. Thing is Dexter is now paranoid that Little Chino will be following him which leads him to a confrontation with Sgt Doakes who he mistakes for muscle-bound Chino. “Who else you got following you” asks Doakes. Dexter gets his man eventually though and with the extra tape in place he finally breaks his season 2 duck whilst Doakes is none the wiser.
Another brilliant episode and I particularly enjoyed the battle between Chino and Dexter, his size alone was an issue no matter how quick you are, he took some dumping too. Roll on Dexter, bring on Lundy.
My latest rental arrived from LOVEFiLM in the shape of Brooklyn's Finest, a movie which I had promised myself a long time ago but just never got round to. I suppose eventually I would have caught it on TV but that just wouldn't have been as much fun would it?
Starring: Richard Gere, Don Cheadle, Ethan Hawke and Wesley Snipes
The Plot
The story of three cops, Tango (Cheadle) working deep undercover, so much in fact that he no longer knows where his morals lie, Sal (Hawke) a corrupt cop who steals money from drug dealers in order to provide his family a better life and finally, Eddie the precincts oldest cop due to retire at the end of the week. The stories all roll individually before they all meet up (sort of) for one final encounter.
The Verdict
If you love cop drama's like Training Day and Rampart then Brooklyn's Finest is definitely your type of movie, was it for me? Not really, It's one of those where noting really happens, the story is very similar to Training Day only this time Ethan Hawke is openly corrupt, at least in Training Day he resisted a little. It's a good story and you do feel very invested in the characters, maybe not so much their immediate face value choices but more the situation they find themselves in whilst seemingly being abandoned by the NYPD.
I think Brooklyn's Finest owes it's character investment to the actors, lets face it none of the guys mentioned above are armatures, even Wesley Snipes as resident top dog gangster puts in an impressive turn. If your not the biggest fan of some of these guys you do have to admit that they put in good performances. Had it been lesser actors involved Brooklyn's Finest may not have turned out so well.
I wouldn't say I didn't enjoy the movie, I get the story and the emotion that it's trying to put across but it's just not my thing, or at least I feel it's nothing different from what I have already seen in this genre. It's one of those movies where I enjoyed watching the extras more and getting some screen time from the guy who wrote the script, you can check out what I thought of that a little further down.
Brooklyn's Finest is very dark and gritty, pretty much what you would expect from this genre telling a tale of corrupt cops caught up in various situations with drug dealers in New York.
Blu-ray Special Features
CONFLICT & CHAOS - The Life of a New York City Cop - A look behind the movie and how the inspiration came about for the story, what compelled the actors to take part and how they prepared for their roles. Some real truth's are spoken from Director Antoine Fuqua in relation to real police officers.
From The MTA to the WGA - At only five minutes long this is one of the best Special Features I have seen. It looks at Brooklyn's Finest screen play writer Michael Martin, a guy who was working for the MTA (Metropoltian Transport Authority), he was broke and needed a new car so he looked online and found a screen writing competition with a first prize of $10k he wrote Brooklyn's Finest and came second before he knew it Hollywood was on the phone and Antoine Fuqua wanted to make his movie - A true rags to riches story.
Boyz N The Real Hood - Another really good extra showing where Brooklyn's Finest was shot, in the real housing projects of New York. Director Antoine Fuqua gave a lot back to the community which is still seeing the benefits to this day.
Deleted Scenes - I didn't watch them all, the way I see it they are deleted for a reason.
Trailer - Speaks for itself really, the theatrical trailer for Brooklyn's Finest.
On the main Blu-ray menu there is a "Set Up" option, this allows you to choose which version of the movie you watch, have the subtitles on or off and also the opportunity to have commentary from Director Antoine Fuqua. I didn't bother with any of that, the movie is over two hours long to start with.
I do really enjoy this show but since the episode which featured the penguin a few weeks back I’ve become a little disheartened. From that point I really expected things to be ramped up a bit, instead what we have had are two boring weeks in my opinion. Nothing has really happened other than police procedural drama with a view into what life is now like for Michael Britten in either of his dreams or reality’s. Following “Nightswimming” I stand even more by the point I made last week that both red and green are merely dreams and we as the audience are yet to see the reality.
The focus this week shifted to the red dream/reality where Britten was trying to relocate a couple in the witness protection program, that situation was happening in the green dream though and served only as a way to cross over the story of police procedural and Britten’s life with his stunning wife Hannah. It was all about how their life is now, Britten was working with a couple in the other reality who had a relationship similar to his, although they love each other they needed reminding of what life was like when the first got together. What is there to say really?
There is nothing here for me to even guess at or make me come up with a new opinion. I have stated a couple of times recently that I thought this show could finish up by the end of this first season, eight episodes in with five left and we are really no further forward. Still, if Awake just continues in this form as police drama would it even get a second season? I’m not so sure it would and I’m guessing that a lot of people may have stopped watching it already.
We have mentioned before about how stunning Michael Britten’s wife Hannah is, “Nightswimming” could have worked a lot better had the Director not tried so hard to cover Laura Allen up, I certainly wouldn’t have minded seeing any of that, wouldn’t you agree? In fact if Laura would like to go skinny dipping on a weekly basis I see no good reason to object.
No Rex again this week, not that I missed him. I can see why he didn’t feature here as it wouldn’t have added as much weight to the scenes between Britten and Hannah, but it seems when they are both involved that there is a little more mystery to be had. I’m sure that next week Rex will be back in the mix and hopefully Awake will deliver us a little more mystery and get us back to where we expect to be by now.
I really can go no further than that this week, again I found myself bored. There are plenty police procedural’s to choose from and Awake should concentrate more on it’s mystery for me.
As always all the TV previews and trailers for your favourite US TV shows here at Movies Music and Television, enjoy.
First up it's Game of Thrones, a show which I have just got into but am really enjoying. I reviewed the first couple of episodes but following last week I found myself lost off thanks to a few new characters being introduced. In "Garden of Bones" the lady walking through the red wasteland is back so, maybe I'll find out some more there. A battle commences between the Starks and Lannisters and boy King Joffrey chops someone up, love it.
I have the review of Awake's "Nightswimming" coming for you tomorrow, I wasn't that impressed the best part was almost seeing Laura Allen naked but unfortunatley it didn't come to anything. in "Game Day" it would seem that the mystery of the two dreams is going to take centre stage, it looks to involve a Football game so if anything else I shouldn't find myself bored this week.
I really enjoyed the "Pilot" to NYC 22, there was a certain air of freshness about it and it came with a killer soundtrack. It's your standard cop procedural but I really think it's worth your time if you can get into it. Check out the trailer for the second installment of the thirteen part series named "Firebomb" and let me know what you think.
I can't find the promo for Person of Interest on YouTube this week so you will have to cope with me throwing you over to the CBS website to check that out. In "Matsya Nyaya" the machine spits out yet another SSN which sees Reese going undercover as part of an armoured truck crew, a move which gives him painful memories of the last CIA job he was involved with. Take a look over at CBS for the trailer. Let me know what it's like as being in the UK I can't watch it.
Plenty going on down your local cinema this weekend and as always here at Movies Music & Television I'm here to tell you what will be worth your time checking out. Let's see, Ewan McGregor is off doing some fishing in a desert, some "guy" is going to a space prison and finally Dexter's Jennifer Carpenter stars as someones sister who has gone missing (I think).
My top pick of the week goes to Lockout starring Guy Pearce, Maggie Grace, Peter Stormare and no one else you'll of heard of.
Guy Pearce plays Snow, a man who is wrongly convicted of espionage in the US (probably his English accent), Snow is offered a chance to make a men's for the crime by travelling to a space prison where violent in-mates have taken control. In order to get off with the charge Snow must rescue the President's daughter Emilie (Maggie Grace, Taken).
Lockout looks like a really good actioner and I have to say they have spent plenty money promoting it via trailers on TV, I don't think you can go wrong with two action packed popcorn eating hours.
Next on the list this week is Salmon Fishing in the Yemen starring Ewan McGregor, Amr Waked, Emily Blunt and Kristin Scott Tomas
From what I can make of it Ewan McGregor is a British fisheries expert who is called upon by a wealthy Sheik from Yemen, the Sheik wants to bring his favourite past time of Salmon fishing to his country believing it's a way to enrich the lives of his people. Problem is he lives in a desert and needs the help of McGregor to make his dream a reality.
On face value I really didn't think I would have a decent word to say about Salmon Fishing in the Yemen, but I saw Ewan McGregor interviewed on Graham Norton last week and the way he put the movie over really doesn't seem to bad, on saying that I don't think I will be in the cinema cue for a ticket come Saturday night, I mean do you know how much cinema tickets are these days!
Last one this week is Gone starring Amanda Seyfried, Jennifer Carpenter, Wes Bentley and Daniel Sunjata
Not to many details on this but basically it follows Jill (Seyfried) a girl who's sister is kidnapped opening up unnerving memories for her, as two years before she herself was kidnapped and now she believes that the serial killer that took her has came back for her sister.
I actually thought that Gone was released here in the UK about a month or so ago and maybe it featured in this post back then, however that may have been a preview screening or something, again there has been plenty money spent on promotion but I don't think I'll be in the cue.
Lockout definitely wins the week for me, although I am a bigger fan of Ewan McGregor than I am of Guy Pearce, but that's by the by. If (and it's a big IF) I want to watch a fishing show I'll put Robson Greens Extreme Fishing (the best one) on TV.
NYC 22 is the latest in the huge line of police procedural drama's to hit our screens, premiering on CBS Sunday 15th April 2012, thing with this police procedural it comes with a twist. NYC 22 is produced by Robert De Niro and Jane Rosenthal's Tribeca Productions, not only that but the show is written by Richard Price who wrote the movie Clockers produced by Spike Lee, it's one I've never seen but have read very impressive things about. On the face of things NYC 22 looks ok, I liked the "Pilot" and was hooked right from the intro with the 6 new rookies making their way for the first day at work to the beat of "New York Groove" before breaking into Jay-Z's "Heart Of The City (Ain't No Love)".
The "Pilot" was very procedural as you would expect but I still enjoyed it, NYC 22 is very bright very refreshing and this opener showed us a little promise as maybe something like The Wire, don't get to excited NYC 22 on face value is nowhere near as good as the Wire, at least that's what's "real" critics will tell you, I'm not a real critic nor did I enjoy The Wire all that much, probably due more to the fact that I was a few years to late catching on. For that reason and as a non critic I'll say that I enjoyed NYC 22 more, what can I say, this is the kind of show I like. NYC 22 has got legs I'm pretty sure on that and from what I've read it's a very mixed bag of reactions.
Ok, so NYC 22 is not Person of Interest which is my favourite show on TV right now, nor will the twists and turns be as good the characters probably won't be as deep either but I still think this looks like a good show, you can tell from the out-set that NYC 22 has had plenty money spent on it not only in production but also in recruiting it's potential stars. That's one thing you can say for Robert De Niro, he's not going to put his name to something which he doesn't think is any good and with NYC 22 he brings a certain essence of cool without doubt, that can be seen from the music in the beginning, that same beat of street rap rolls right through the episode probably due to the fact that the week's story was based on a potential gang war which eventually went off half way through the episode but was brought to a very uneventful conclusion.
The uneventful conclusion is probably because the show is based on the rookies and their experiences of life on the beat so, with that in mind let's roll through the characters first off Jennifer "White House" Perry (LeeLee Sobieski), a former US Marine MP who worked on security at the White House, Tonya Sanchez (Judy Marte) the daughter of a criminal family who has become a cop to clean up her family name and just happens to look very much like Jennifer Lopez, Ray Harper (Adam Goldberg) a former news journalist who lost his job after 14 years due to budget cuts, Kenny McLaren (Stark Sands) a 4th generation cop who was all but expected to become one himself, Ahmad Khan (Tom Reed) a refugee from Afghanistan who just wants fair play, Jayson "Jackpot" Toney (Harold House Moore) a former college basketball star who never quite met his potential and finally Daniel "Yoda" Dean (Terry Kinney) the boss in charge of all the newbies.
I can't say I was disappointed with any of the performances, I've seen a few criticising Leelee Sobieski but hot blonde chicks sit fine with me no matter how wooden they look, anyway my eyes were drawn in the direction of Latino Lopez lookalike Judy Marte, what can I say I like dark hair. We found out enough about everyone here in order to move forward with what looks like it will be a weekly storyline as apposed to something that continues, what may continue is relationships between the rookies and their seniors and for me a few of the rookies are certainly open to corruption, you just have to look at their backgrounds. Although "Jackpot" did talk his best friend into handing himself into police and Tonya certainly seems committed to cleaning her family name, former journalist Harper is also very disgruntled towards newspapers. Maybe the most likely one to stray would be 4th generation cop McLaren, his eyes were certainly drawn to the sister of that little gangster, you know what some men would do for women.
In essence NYC 22 is no different really from all the other police procedural's we see on TV, although unlike say CSI (New York or Miami) I think NYC 22 may require more of your attention, you couldn't get away with just watching this every now and again. I really enjoyed it and I will be back for more. What are your thoughts on NYC 22? Will you be back for more like me? Or are you writing it off as just another police procedural?
I really don’t have that much to talk about with Awake this week, would it be wrong of me to say that I found it a little boring? I suppose it’s not, but that is what I felt like this week, maybe it was the fact that none of the cases really crossed paths, but then again when it came to the shows main plot, what happened to Michael Britten? The cases did cross and the conspiracy grew some more. For me Awake has two questions that I want answered (well three actually, but the third may or may not be relevant, I’ll get to it shortly) I want to know which reality is real and what the conspiracy against Britten is?
I suppose with all the twists and turns in which reality is real I’m not going to get an answer to either of those questions any time soon, although I would still say that Awake could be wrapped up in one season if everything is revealed in the next four episodes. It may well go on longer, who knows? The show could give us the answer to which reality (green/red) is real then roll into a second season with the conspiracy storyline. It really does have potential.
One thing I want to touch on, it’s something I’ve noticed before but never really paid that much attention too. Awakes slogan “Two dreams, one reality”, is it just me or would that suggest Britten is dreaming two dreams and as the audience we are yet to see the reality, say maybe he is in a coma or something like that and before he wakes up he is solving all his cases. It maybe is a little far fetched but to suggest that one of the dreams is a reality shouldn’t the slogan say “Two dreams, one is reality?” This could well be the reason I don’t
work in TV, am I missing something?
The Westfield Distribution case is seemingly going to be the main focus of attention as to where this conspiracy actually lies, does that mean the red world is real? I honestly don’t know and the more I think about it the more I seem to confuse myself. Whatever Westfield Distribution has to do with things then certain people including Britten’s boss Captain Harper don’t want him digging to deep, it may also have something to do with “Ricky’s Tacos” or was that just helping out with a clue in the blue world? It’s Ricky’s Tacos where Britten hallucinated this week believing the ordering machine told him to go check out Westfield Distribution. That really is all I got from this episode.
Maybe like I said above we haven’t seen the reality yet, he is in a coma and before the accident he knew people were conspiring against him, it will all build to him figuring out all the clues in a coma and the season finale will see him “Awake” and bring down his foes. That is possibly completely ridiculous speculation but at least it’s a thought, I don’t really know where Rex or Hannah would fit into this scenario, maybe they are sitting at his side when he comes around.
Lastly, that third question I mentioned above, does Michael Britten ever change his shirt? It would seem that he has a vast selection of ties yet only one blue shirt, is that something the writers have done on purpose or am I just not paying enough attention? Or on the other hand to much attention?
The story picks up thirty eight days after Dexter saved his sister and killed his brother Rudy, The Ice Truck Killer. Thirty eight days is a long time for Dexter to go without killing anyone though and he has his next target in his sights, problem is ever since the conclusion of The Ice Truck Killer case the suspicious and frankly hilarious Sgt Doakes has followed Dexter’s every move when not on duty. In order to prove or at least try to convince Doakes that he’s normal Dexter has took up bowling to surpass his murderous desires until one day the opportunity presents itself and Dexter finds himself unable to quench his thirst.
“It’s Alive” dealt very much with the fall out and aftermath of season ones stunning finale, not only was Dexter in quandary trying to kill someone but his sister Deb has all but convinced herself that returning to work so soon after her ordeal is a good thing, whilst
back at home for Dexter, Rita is still facing a hard time from ex-husband and convict Paul who's trying to convince her that Dexter is not the man she thinks and she should be in the yard looking for a shoe which will see him released from custody.
It’s probably Dexter’s problem which was the best bit of this opening episode, not only does he have Sgt Doakes on his back but Deb has also moved in with him and is slowly grinding further and further on his nerves, turns out Dexter has a slight OCD when it comes to his apartment being clean and tidy whilst Deb really doesn’t seem to concerned with anything like that. Finally with the chance to kill again Dexter’s problems race to the surface and he finds himself riddled with guilt over killing the biological brother who helped open his eyes to where he came from and the lies Harry had kept from him for years, it’s a strange affection for Dexter as he loves Deb dearly but she is not blood and he choose to protect her over Rudy.
Doakes chips in with another brilliant one liner in this opener, but you have to ask if you were trying to get rid of a sergeant’s attention would you really be opening a titty site at work? Doakes blazes in “what’s that a titty site?”, you surely wouldn’t dare look at anything like that at work, but you have to admit it adds to the dark humour of Dexter.
If you remember I read a spoiler accidentally whilst watching season 1, and I thought Dexter’s first victim of this season would be Paul Bennett when he was released from custody, but I got that wrong. Stuck in a federal prison which is admittedly way out of his league he is killed in a prison fight, argh, to bad, but lets face it the prick had it coming for long enough, and it’s one less problem for Dexter to deal with, although Rita is not going to follow up anymore of Paul’s claims thankfully for Dexter, and I have to mention seeing Julie Benz wearing little to no clothing certainly wasn’t a low point in this episode.
It all builds towards a brilliant episode with lots of things set in place, and then just when you think things can’t get any better two treasure hunters diving off the Miami coast uncover the bodies which Dexter has buried there, that leads to a massive police operation and the beginning of a hunt for a new Miami based serial-killer dubbed “The Bay Harbour Butcher”, or Dexter as we all know him.
As always here at Movies Music & Television here are all the latest previews and trailers for your favourite US TV shows.
Firstly its Game of Thrones, a show which I have become a very big fan of. It's not my usual squeeze but this is very good indeed, I'm not really there yet on who everyone is or what they are all fighting for but I am hoping this week may shed a little more light on the subject. Check out the trailer and let me know what you think, other than that why not take a look at last week's review and fill me in on the blanks.
Onto Awake now, another very good show. This really isn't the best preview week for me there is very little on and I haven't seen the previous episode "Ricky's Tacos" just yet, I will be watching it tonight but in the interest that I give something away that will spoil my viewing I haven't watched this preview yet, take a look for yourself and let me know what you think.
No Touch this week, I don't feel any desire to watch this show, I watched the first two episodes and thought they were ok but in all honesty I was just a little bored, I don't think Keifer Sutherland and his on screen son linking peoples life's together for a happy ending every week is all that enjoyable so for that reason I have stopped previewing and reviewing the show. This gives me even less to review so if you have any suggestions on something I should check out old or new then let me know.
As you know I'm a big fan of Dexter, I'm currently making my way through season 2 so, why not put out the trailer? That way you all know what I'm watching. As well as this I also have a new writing gig coming off which I'll let you know about in due course, I'm just busy deciding how much time to offer the opportunity.
Note: I would have done individual episode trailers for Dexter's second season but they don't have any from back then so you will have to do with the whole of season 2 trailer.
Breakout Kings is a show that’s a little late getting to the UK audience, it premiered in the US on the A&E Network back in March 2011. Eventually it’s rolled its way over the Atlantic and landed on obscure digital channel Universal HD, the same channel which seems to be buying up a lot of old and new US processed junk TV right now. I didn’t actually know Breakout Kings was premiering and only set it to record by chance as I’d flicked for the first time ever (I think) onto Universal HD to check out Enrico Colantoni’s (Elias from Person of Interest) performance in a slightly more successful show called Flashpoint.
Breakout Kings was quite a highly anticipated show, mostly due to the fact that the writers/creators are Nick Santora and Matt Olmstead, these are the guys who brought us the hugely successful Prison Break for four seasons. Not only that, the show came with a bit of a star casting including The Wire’s Domenick Lombardozzi and Avatar’s Laz Alonso.
The show is based mainly on the two characters above, both of whom work for different sectors of the police, they don’t particularly care for each other but are offered the opportunity to set up a task force which chases escaped convicts. Not wanting to do it alone, they come up with a slogan of “It takes a con to catch a con” and recruit some prisoners from various prisons around the US in order to help them catch escaped convicts, in return the prisoners are offered a reduced sentence of a month for every escapee they help apprehend, and this time will be served in a minimum security prison.
It’s a slightly different twist on the standard procedural crime police drama, and one which I didn’t think would work to bad. The Pilot was ok, nothing great but it served it’s purpose of introducing us to all the characters, at least on the surface and it delved pretty quickly into the action, I suppose you could liken it to Alcatraz, just without the budget. The released cons consist of a genius gambler (Jimmi Simpson as Lloyd Lowery), a con woman (Nicole Steinwedell as Philly, Pilot only), an ex gang leader (Malcolm Goodwin as Shea Daniles) and briefly a bare knuckle fighter who you don’t really need to know about.
Breakout Kings is set up like Person of Interest and Alcatraz in that there is a different story or prisoner every week, that guarantees you one thing, you will get thorough the story pretty quick but from the Pilot it looks like it will get very boring, basically like Alcatraz someone will escape every week this team will hunt them down and return them to prison, simple. I think you could basically describe this as popcorn TV, no need to watch intensely and no need to worry if you miss a couple of episodes as it won’t be to hard to catch up.
I don’t think it helps that we are introduced to five leading characters in the Pilot, meaning we only really get to know them on the surface with only really one exception in Lloyd Lowery the gambler who seems to do quite a lot of talking, which for me came across quite hammy. That would go for Lombardozzi to, I can’t say that I was all that impressed, especially given the calibre of TV show he was in before this. Laz Alonso as the boss fared a little better for me, but all in all I think it might be ex gang leader Shea Daniels who turns out to be the star of this show, other than the two cops he is the only one who strikes me as street wise and tough enough to deal with murderous escaped cons. I will be back for more next week, hoping that maybe we will start to see characters develop beyond face value, I enjoyed it but I’m not so sure that I can come back week on week and review it unless there is something particularly good or bad that I feel should be mentioned. What are your thoughts’s on Breakout Kings? Did you catch this in time with the US? Or like me have you tuned into Universal HD earlier this week hoping to catch a show which resembled Prison Break?
Note;
*A ten part second season to Breakout Kings has just started airing in the US last month*.
I have to tell you straight off this is not the best week ever for movies, probably more like one of the worst in fact, but as always here at Movies Music & Television I’ll take you through what may be worth your time this weekend. You have a new super scary (I think) horror, Independence Day on a boat and Butch Cassidy is back fresh out the 60’s.
I’ll start with my pick of the week as always, its Battleship starring Alexander Skarsgard, Liam Neeson, Brooklyn Decker, Taylor Kitsch and popstar Rhianna
Battleship is based on Hasbro comic book novel Combat Game, and follows an international fleet of ships who are on a Naval war games exercise. Whilst there they encounter an alien force known as “The Regent” and a air and sea battle ensues.
I don’t know anything about the books or Hasbro comics but when I was younger we had a video game named Battleships where you used to have put coordinates in and try to blow your opponent (the computer) out the water, however I don’t think it’s the same thing. In all honesty if I see any of the movies released this week Battleship will probably be it, check out the trailer below.
Next on this week’s list is Blackthorn starring Sam Shepard, Eduardo Noriega and Stephen Rea
Blackthorn is set in Bolivia and follows legendary cowboy Butch Cassidy (Sam Shepard) who now calls himself James Blackthorn. Butch or James (whatever you want to call him) is making one last attempt to get home, a journey which sees him team up with a young robber, and the pair become a target for gangs and cops, or lawmen as they were known then.
I have no interest in Westerns at all, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance kid released in 1969 is a movie I’ve never seen, nor do I intend watching. If Butch was around then what’s he doing in Bolivia?
Last one to mention this week is The Cabin in The Woods starring Kristen Connelly, Chris Hemswroth and Anna Hutchinson
It’s the latest teenage type horror thing that you’ll all love, a bunch of people go to stay in a creepy cabin which is in the middle of nowhere, well apart from the woods obviously, when there they get more than they bargain for and must try and figure out the truth behind The Cabin in The Woods.
Horror is not a genre that I’m a fan of and from what I’ve seen of this movie up to now it seems a lot like Cabin Fever, a movie I watched expecting to get a scare. All I got was bored.
I have actually put off watching The Social Network, I've heard plenty people say that it’s a pretty good movie but I just never really felt inclined to watch it. I know who Mark Zuckerberg is of course and I know many people have tried to sue him over the actual ownership/idea behind Facebook, I can’t say it really interested me though, after all without his genius programming knowledge Facebook would probably never have been what it is and my Blackberry would be a lot quieter with updates.
Starring: Jessie Eisenberg, Rooney Mara, Dustin Fitzsimmons, Joseph Mozello, Andrew Garfield and Justin Timberlake
The Plot
The Social Network is the story of Facebook owner Mark Zuckerberg and takes us back to the fall of 2003 when one night Zuckerberg grabbed himself a beer and started coding for a site which at the time he called "The Facebook", an idea adapted from an internal Harvard computer system which was already in place. What follows is Facebook’s rise to revolutionise the way we communicate and the legal battles that Zuckerberg faced following Facebook going live.
The Verdict
Been putting off from watching The Social Network? Then let me tell you, stop there and get out to buy or rent this on DVD OR Blu-ray, really the movie is that impressive and it’s a complete comparison from what I was expecting, I really enjoyed the way the story was
told, although mostly fictional from what I'm lead to believe. Also the acting by all involved was something else with Eisenberg as the real star of the show.
If your thinking that The Social Network will just be a geek fest then you are wrong, also if you think that Zuckerberg writing pages and pages of Internet code is going to give you an idea that will make you a billionaire you are wrong. The Social Network is not going to give you any ideas like that its more character based with some very good laughs thrown in for good measure. The characters where the best bit for me, apart from Zuckerberg himself you have Eduardo Saverin (Andrew Garfiled) the co-founder of Facebook and in all honesty the money behind the venture, I actually felt quite sorry for this guy as he considered Mark Zuckerberg to be his best friend, then you have Dustin Mosovitz (Joseph Mozello) co-owner of Facebook, who seems to take more of a back seat. Finally Sean Parker (Justin Timberlake) the founder of Napster and the man who helped Zukerberg propel Facebook to where it is today.
I really liked the way the movie was handled set in the present day in court room scenes, well offices with solicitors, Zuckerberg and others arguing over the ownership of Facebook, what it done was every bit of the story we got told in the room was a flashback to how it played out, I really liked that and have to say The Social Network really is a great movie and not what I was expecting at all, I can’t recommend it enough.
Would I watch it again?
Yeah, totally, I thought this was really good and I can’t wait to see it again.
Oh, so that's a girl. I'm pleased I found out this quick she had me completely fooled last week thinking she, or he was in fact in line to take Joffrey's throne as king. I did think on watching last week that Ari (actually Arya) was slightly effeminate, as you know I didn't watch the first season so this is all new to me. I have to say I enjoyed "The Night Lands" better than last weeks "The North Remembers", more things started to fall into place for me this week and I think that maybe I'm starting to grasp what is actually going on.
One thing I forgot to mention last week was the killing of the "bastards", I know it's not real but I did find that very uncomfortable to watch, or listen to as the case may be. You think that maybe they would leave it there, but no. Game of Thrones was just as daring and outrageous this week as it was last. Firstly we were treated to the scene in the brothel with the lady who had clearly just finished servicing some guy, I'm presuming that wasn't milk he was wiping from her chin, then we got some very wrong brother sister action which quite frankly was just creepy.
I wouldn't let any of that put you off though, yes the nakedness was there for all to be seen, but again, I didn't see the first season so I don't know if that's how it was, nor have I read the books, so maybe it was taken from those. Game of Thrones is still a brilliant show and and the brilliant acting, clever story and hint of the big battle which is going to commence at some point in this season all ramps up to keep you coming back week on week.
I actually laughed this week too, that's twice, remember Awake? Yeah, well Game of Thrones was actually pretty funny this week with the best laugh coming from that guy (I don't know his name) who told the Gold Cloak that his sword had just been sharpened that morning, and it was so sharp he could shave a spiders arse, what can I say it doesn't take much to make me laugh, maybe it's the way "that guy" delivered his line. My other moment of laughter came just before Ari turned out to be Arya with the kids washing pots, again, I don't know who the kid was but it was a funny little chat about how he knew someone was a Knight because they wore body armour.
Although I'm getting there with the characters I still have plenty to learn, this week Joffrey didn't make an appearance but I was introduced to so many other people, supposed kings and their teams (is that the right word?) that I kind of feel back to square one, I think I get a little more on what they all want, and now I know that Tyroin is attempting to keep all of these people from passing his, well Joffrey's walls and getting into their kingdom, please correct me in the comments if I have that wrong. I thought that I pretty much met everyone in the opening episode but it turns out not, I was introduced to the house Greyjoy, you know the creepy brother sister bit? I take it he was in the first season and sent away his son who he now despises to fight with the Stark's. I still need to know who the lady in the red land's is, someone was obviously sending her little crew a message this week sending one of her Bloodrider's back minus his head.
Before I sum up, where were they taking that baby at the end of this episode? And what was that thing which picked it up? The shadow on screen and heavy breathing leads me to think it's some kind of man wolf
I still have plenty to learn about Game of Thrones but I really did enjoy this episode, as with last week the person I was most impressed with was Peter Dinklage, when this guy is on screen he completely owns it and from what I have heard he will be taking more of a leading role in this season. Another brilliant episode and I can't wait for next week's.
For me this was the best episode of Awake so far, I have really enjoyed the series but so far it's been more procedural crime drama rather than explaining what the Sci-Fi mystery twist is. This far two things have ran constant in Awake that we want answers to, firstly is the police conspiracy side of things which up to now is pointing towards the fact that the Britten's car accident maybe wasn't so much of an accident, and then you have the which reality is real question, the main focus of everyones attention. "That's Not My Penguin" is the first episode which has started to deliver answers to one of those questions, or maybe the writers are just throwing us a curve ball to keep us off the scent.
Every little clue thrown in so far has pointed towards the fact that the blue/green reality where Martin lives with his son Rex is the real one, "That's Not My Penguin" certainly didn't do anything to change my opinion on that, it only served as more concrete evidence that everything in the nice glossy red reality is in fact a dream, a world built by Michael Britten to help him come to terms with the fact he lost his wife. By this reveal, if it is a reveal can we presume that the writers are looking to wrap Awake after one season? Let's face it that's the whole mystery and if Britten is going to start putting together the pieces six episodes in I think he may well have solved it by the time we are at the season finale.
"That's Not My Penguin" focused on a young guy named Gabe who just happened to be holed up in a psych hospital in the red world. Gabe believed that his sister who had died some years earlier had been kidnapped and the nurses on the ward were hiding her from him so, he decided to lay siege to the ward held the staff captive and wired up some explosives. That put Michael in kind of a predicament, he faced a hostage negotiation with a mental patient who possibly has the same condition as him, but that made gripping TV for us as this is where all of the answers came.
I think this is possibly the first episode where I have laughed, up to this point there really hasn't been to much to laugh about but when that Penguin showed up in the psych ward I had to have a little chuckle to myself. That penguin was of course the first of two hallucinations that Michael was about to have, it didn't escape from the zoo section of the hospital, it was never there and only present in the mind of Michael. I'm not sure on this but I have to ask the question, can you hallucinate in a dream? I would say the answer would have to be yes, as the writers wouldn't have done that otherwise unless of course it's not a dream.
Lets say it is a dream, it's a pretty elaborate one, it's a whole other world and the hallucinations seem to point to the other world being the real one. The Dr (B.D. Wong) in the red reality showed up in that psych ward I was thinking this is a bit of a twist, I didn't pick up right away that it was just Michael hallucinating, it really was brilliant at the end of the episode when you find out that he was never there in the first place, Michael Britten's mind sending him a message possibly?
I'm really enjoying this show, it is brilliant and I have no doubt that some twists and turns will be coming our way, but for now I stand that the blue/green reality is the real one, the rest is just a dream, however, I'm still aware that this show could throw us a massive curve ball, we often thought that Lost might provide answers, they never came so why should we think any different in Awake, this show really is that good and I can't wait to see more.
Posts
