New DEXTER Season 7 TV Spot Plus Some Story Line

The hype surrounding Dexter's upcoming seventh season is still building and thanks to Showtime I have another couple of trailers as well as a new photo taken from the season 7 premiere "Are You...?" (that's it on the left). The Comic Con badge on the right side bar has now disappeared, but has been replaced by a picture of just how Dexter wants to be seen by the public. Don't forget these trailers are the latest, if you click on that Dexter picture then you are taken to all the Dexter trailers available so far, as well as the two minute sneak peak provided courtesy of Comic Con.

Now to some story line provided courtesy of a press release, we discussed in previous posts weather Debra would grass her brother to her colleagues at Miami Metro, we decided that wouldn't be the case and that can be seen in one of the promos below as Dexter burns Travis' body in front of his sister. What happens from there? Well, Debra would seem to be off doing her job whilst allowing her brother to continue on with the life he has become so used to, killing killers. In season 7 Dexter sees a new challenge in a brutal Ukrainian mobster played by Ray Stevenson. On his journey Dexter meets Hannah McKay (Yvonne Strahovski)an independent woman who has a past that she is struggling to put behind her, Hannah starts to work with Miami Metro helping them solve old cases, Dexter starts to work with her and realises that maybe Hannah is not all she seems.

Quite a few of the episode names have been released so I will list them here for you now, nothing much to talk about but 7.12 has an interesting title. Remember the season 7 premiere airs on Showtime, September 30th 2012.

7.01 - "Are You...?"

7.02 - "The Shadow Knows"

7.03 - "Buck The System"

7.04 - "Run"

7.05 - "Swim Deep"

7.06 - "Do The Wrong Thing"

7.07 - Chemistry"

7.08 - "?"

7.09 - "?"

7.10 - "?"

7.11 - "?"

7.12 - "Lethal Injection"

TV Review: THE KILLING Season 2 - Who Killed Rosie Larsen? Well, I Did Tell You In The First Season

Some of my more regular readers may remember that last year I reviewed Channel 4 crime drama The Killing, AMC’s remake of Danish TV’s Forbrydelsen, I enjoyed the first season but in the finale the show runners failed to deliver the answer which they posed at the beginning of the show, who killed Rosie Larsen? I can’t say I was overly disappointed but it would have been nice, however had they told us then that would have halted this second season which in my opinion was better than the first, I feel like the Raine's were taken off a little right from the start here, the action got more exciting and the danger to Detectives Linden (Meriele Enos) and Holder (Joel Kinnamin, the new Robocop) was a lot more prominent as they probed further to see just how high up this corruption went.

I enjoyed the chase a lot more during this second season, and I think that’s probably because it opened up a lot more alternatives as to who could be responsible. In the season finale we the audience learnt once and for all that season 1 suspect Councilman Darren Richmond was completely innocent of what was suspected of him, however he payed the ultimate price for having been suspected and was shot in the season one finale by Belko, Stan Larsen’s friends and employee. For this season that saw Councilman Richmond in a wheel chair and his campaign team trying to get him into the mayor’s office, convincing the public that he is still a worthy candidate. However Richmond will not release (at first) the one piece of evidence that will completely put everyone’s mind right, he was on a bridge the night Rosie Larsen died and contemplating killing himself. So, it wasn’t Richmond, but was it someone in his team, Jamie perhaps? Or maybe even Gwen?

Finally it was revealed who killed Rosie Larsen, but I’ll keep that one for now. First to Jamie, Darren Richmond’s most loyal aid, and boy did he go some way to try and prove it? In cahoots with property developer Michael Aames and native Indian casino owner Chief Jackson we discovered that Jamie was involved in the death of Rosie, he was there in the casino that night doing a shady deal with the Chief and Aames on a waterfront development on Navarro land which would all but land Richmond the Mayor’s job. However his plans went awry when he found Rosie in the so called abandoned floor of the casino and proceeded to brutally beat here in order that what she just heard could never be repeated. Jamie only put her in the trunk though before contacting Michael Aames to help him dispose of the body, a move which brought into light a big twist, and one which I theorised on during the first season before the link was established between Aames and Rosie’s very own Aunt Terry.

Yes that’s right, her Aunt killed her, the reveal finally coming in the closing 15 minutes of the season two finale, and I can only think of one other scene from TV recently which delivered so much emotion. The moment Terry revealed that she in fact pushed the car into the lake, such was her desire to run off into the sunset with Michael Aames, she was prepared to commit murder, however she didn’t realise that it was Rosie in the car, it was a very emotional flashback scene which saw Terry commit the act when Rosie was still alive and screaming in the boot of the car, one which was as uncomfortable as it was emotionally charged. I did put her name forward as a possible suspect during the first season like I mentioned but during this second run I had let that go by with my efforts concentrated more on Richmond’s opposition and his seemingly corrupt henchmen who were quite happy to trail Linden and Holder during their efforts to catch the killer.

Richmond took a whole different loop on his story arc from what I was expecting, a man who won his mayoral campaign thanks to always being up front and honest, he believed in the truth and even spoke it during his public speech’s, however in the finale his true colours were finally revealed as Jame’s little speech about doing whatever it took to win the campaign seemed to sink in as Richmond froze out Gwen, the woman who left a high powered job in The White House to aid the man she cared about. Richmond proved without saying a word that the nice guy does not always win.

What was always great about The Killing was the acting, the two main characters Linden and Holder were sublimely matched and they added real weight to pretty much everything, Mitch Larsen, who took off from her family for the most part of this season was brilliant and I made my thoughts on Stan Larsen perfectly clear during the first season when he beat Brandon J. McLaren to within an inch of his life, a brilliant effort all round I would say.

The Killing delivered a very satisfying conclusion in my opinion, it was a twist that during this second season I genuinely didn’t see coming. It was nice the way things finished up too, as Linden delivered the video which Rosie had shot herself and delivered it through the Larsen’s door. What about you? Were you satisfied with the conclusion of The Killing?

LONDON 2012, Olympic Fever is at an all Time High

Well seven years in the making and the 2012 London Olympic games are finally here, the opening ceremony will take place at London's Olympic stadium tonight at 9pm and it's due to become quite possibly the biggest TV event in history as 1 billion people from around the world are expected to tune in and watch film Director Danny Boyle's £27 million spectacular. I will be one of those 1 billion, but you should remember that there is also a build up to the big event which starts from 7pm on BBC 1 when it will be revealed who is going to be lighting the Olympic flame, rumours circulating at the time of writing this are that maybe it could be David Beckham who will be kicking a flaming football into the cauldron, and that its possibly Muhammad Ali, either way it will be a brilliant spectacular. Personally I'd prefer David Beckham as I think he was a key part in helping bring the games to London, second to that he is the most famous sportsman from Great Britain, if not the entire world, yes there are massive names in Basketball, American Football, Formula 1, MotoGP, Tennis and any other sport you can think of but you mention the name David Beckham to anyone in the world and they will know who you are talking about.

Following the opening ceremony the games will begin and 10,000 athletes from 205 countries will commence with the greatest show on Earth, that is of course all of the non Football events. The Women's Football started on Wednesday night, and Thursday night saw the start of Men's Football, unfortunately I didn't catch to much of it but here are a couple of results. World and European champions Spain were defeated by Japan, favourites Brazil beat Egypt 3 - 2, before South Americans Uruguay were defeated by United Arab Emirates. Then the big event, a historical one actually. Team GB started their Olympic challenge at Old Trafford and faced sturdy opposition in Senegal, the game finished 1 - 1 with Liverpool's Craig Bellamy scoring for Team GB. I watched about ten minutes of the Uruguay game, and the last fifteen minutes of the Team GB game as well as watching Team GB play Brazil in a friendly warm up game last week. I have to agree with BBC Football pundit Robbie Savage that the best Team GB can hope for in this area of the Olympics is Bronze. I have no doubt that it will be Brazil and their superstar centre forward Naymar that walk away with the Gold medal, but it's not a fore gone conclusion by any means. Uruguay looked impressive in parts, with Newcastle United transfer target Gaston Ramirez looking particularly comfortable, Japan were no slouches and United Arab Emirates also appeared to be very well organised, so it should be good to watch.

Now 304 events is a lot to get through and like me you probably don't enjoy all of them, so I'm going to run through my favourites. Football would be near the top but as this is the Olympics it doesn't take priority for me, you may know that I'm also a massive fan of Cycling, Mark Cavendish and Tour De France winner Bradley Wiggins in particular, cycling will probably come top of the list for me and Great Britain get the ball rolling for their first Olympic gold on Saturday morning as Wiggins and Cavendish take to the road race around the Surrey hills before a sprint finish into London, we all know that Mark Cavendish is the fastest man on two wheels right now proved when he won the sprint finish on the Champs-Elysees last week for the fourth consecutive year. Hopefully Cavendish and Wiggins will see Great Britain off to a good start.

Second to the road cycling would be the Velodrome cycling, rowing and of course I can't wait to see Usain Bolt in the 100m sprint. We also have a lot of hope in the swimming and diving. I really can't wait for London 2012 to officially get under way. How about you? What's your favourite Olympic event? Do you have a favourite athlete? And I suppose most important off all who do you think should light the Olympic flame tonight?

This Week In Cinema's..... Danny De Vito is THE LORAX

It’s a pretty poor week down at you local cinema if your hoping to go see anything new. Your only option is the new animated adventure The Lorax, and let’s face it unless you have kids who are already board after the first week of their school summer holiday, then that’s the only way your going to see this one. Don’t worry though, if you want to go see something a little more adult (not in the way your thinking) themed the The Dark Knight Rises is still showing all over the country and the que should have gone down a bit by now.

Ok, onto the matter at hand, telling you about The Lorax Starring the voice talents of Danny De Vito, Ed Helms, Zac Efron, Taylor Swift and the grandma from Wedding Crashers Betty White. I actually heard about The Lorax a good while a go now, maybe even last year when I saw the trailer Glen posted at 1 Man, 365 Movies (a blog which has since disappeared), I’ll be honest I wasn’t really that interested then nor am I that interested now. The movie is based on the books about Dr Suess, again I am not interested in those nor have I ever read one. I’m not going to go into a detailed synopsis for you (can’t really be bothered) but basically the movie is the story of a young boy named Ted (Efron) who is seeking to win the heart of his dream girl Audrey (Swift), she wants to see a real tree and thanks to the world they live in they are pretty hard to come by. Ted goes about his ways to try and fix the environmental problem but is hampered in his efforts by the corrupt Mayor of Thneed-Ville (voiced by Rob Riggle). Quite where Dr Suess’ The Lorax fits in I’m not sure but he is a protester against the environmental problems and my guess is he probably ends up helping out Ted and Audrey in some way, I’ve posted the trailer below for you to check out.

You off to see The Lorax then? Yeah like me you’re only going to see this if the kids drag you there on Saturday afternoon, luckily I’m on a works night out this Saturday which starts around 5pm so sitting in the cinema won’t be an option for me.

Why You Should Watch BREAKING BAD - Guest Post

It's finally here. After an excruciatingly long break, AMC's hit series, "Breaking Bad" returned to television. What's that? You don't watch the show? No problem, we'll get you up to speed in no time.  

"Breaking Bad" tells the story of high-school chemistry teacher Walter White (Bryan Cranston, "Malcolm in the Middle"), who is diagnosed with terminal lung cancer. Realizing his death will leave his pregnant wife (Anna Gunn) and disabled son (RJ Mitte) straddled with an overwhelming amount of debt, Walt looks for a way to create a solid nest egg for his family. This is where it gets interesting. 

Walt and his family live in Albuquerque, New Mexico, an area devastated by the crystal meth drug trade. It doesn't take Walt long to figure out he can leverage his chemistry skills to create a pure, and economically valuable, strain of crystal meth. In a brazen attempt to create a stable financial future for his family, Walt teams up with former student Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul) to produce and sell crystal meth.  

The show skillfully explores how Walter's fatal diagnosis frees him from everyday concerns and societal norms, and follows his remarkable transformation from mild-mannered family man into a feared drug trade kingpin. 

We understand the premise of "Breaking Bad" might sound a tad disconcerting. Kicking off a series with a protagonist who has terminal cancer isn't the happiest of starts and then mixing in an illegal and immoral endeavor like producing crystal meth probably sounds like a cocktail for disaster. Don't let the unconventional storyline dissuade you from watching this ridiculously entertaining show.  

"Breaking Bad" works on several levels. First, the acting is superb. While Cranston is the standout of the series, this isn't a one-man show. All of the actors bring something new and delightfully unexpected to their characters. The writing is wickedly shrewd, with just the right amount of dark humor for levity; each episode contains at least one genuinely hysterical moment. And, the pacing is spot-on. The show manages to transition from humorous to white-knuckle tension as effortlessly as flicking a light switch.   

While the production and distribution of an illegal substance rests near the nucleolus of this show, "Breaking Bad" isn't heavy handed with socio-political commentary. It doesn't get mired down in socially responsible messages. This is a character-driven show that aims to suck you into its universe and entertain the ever-living daylights out of you.  

To help whet your whistle, here are a few interesting tidbits about the show: 

·         The actor who plays Walt's son (RH Mitte) has cerebral palsy just like his character; however, Mitte's affliction isn't as severe as his character's. He had to learn to walk with crutches and slow his speech to play the part. 

·         When characters on the show are shown smoking meth, they're actually smoking rock candy or sugar. Don't worry, they don't inhale! 

·         Each character wears a certain color of clothes that depicts their values or role in the show. For example, Walt wears green, his wife wears blue, DEA agents wear orange, Jesse wears red and yellow (he wears gray while in recovery), and Walt's sister-in-law wears purple.   

·         Bryan Cranston sat in on several high school chemistry classes to help develop his character. 

If for some reason you don't want to watch the latest season without catching up with all of the earlier seasons, Netflix offers seasons 1-3 in their Instant Streaming service. Why not give the first few episodes a chance. You in?

Stephanie Cable is from the US and writes CableTV.com. She loves her job because she gets to make fun infographics like these.

TV Review: DEXTER - Morning Comes 2.8

Rolling on with Dexter’s second season and things just keep getting better and better. Following the events at the end of last weeks episode and Lila’s desperate call for attention she is now living with Dexter and Debra who has also had to move in since her ordeal with The Ice Truck Killer. It’s a bad situation for OCD sufferer Dexter who likes everything tidy and in order, second to that Dexter describes living with the two like living with a Cobra and a Mongoose, any guesses who’s, who? I’ll go Debra Mongoose as Lila seems the more poisonous of the two. Away from that Dexter is trying to fix things up with Rita and the kids whilst also fending off attention for Doakes who has just come by an awful lot of spare time.

First off Dexter is over at Lila’s helping out with the clean up operation following the fire, this is when the pin finally starts to drop for Dexter on just how dangerous this lady can be. On asking again how the fire started she come out with some bull shit story which Dexter immediately disproves by looking at scorch marks on her art work (if that’s art, I don’t want any of it). It’s a situation which Dexter doesn’t comment on but he is starting to learn a lot more about British chick Lila who has already admitted to being an arsonist, torching someone’s house knowing full well they were in there. I said it from the beginning, stay well clear Dexter, but that just wouldn’t be as much fun would it?

Asides from all of the arguing going on in Dexter’s apartment there still comes the time of day when him, Lila and Debra are at work leaving Doakes the perfect opportunity to break in and take a look around for any incriminating evidence which may have been left lying around. At first it looks like Doakes will draw a blank once again but just as he’s about to leave he opens up the air conditioning unit and reveals Dexter’s catalogue of blood. That is something that can go either way for Doakes, any normal person would probably run straight back to work shouting “hey, look what I found in Dexter’s apartment”, but not Doakes he needs something more concrete and leaving the blood slides in his car he has now given Dexter the opportunity to stitch him up good and proper on charges of being a murderer.

Probably one of my favourite episodes of this season so far for many reasons, but the main one to mention would be Dexter getting back to his good old self and providing us with the thrill of the kill. It’s bowling night once again and Dexter has allowed Lila to come along for the experience, leaving they are greeted by none other than Santos Jiminez, the former gangster who killed Dexter’s mother and was confronted by him in “The Dark Defender”, on that occasion Dexter’s sponsor Lila managed to talk him out of killing Jiminez, but this time it’s Dexter’s life that’s threatened and that just ain’t happening. Dexter maybe able to change or be talked down but clearly some people don’t change their spots and Jiminez needs dealt with in what is surely one of Dexter’s most satisfying kill’s of all time, finishing the guy off with a chainsaw just as he had done to his mother.

Dexter’s problems won’t be going away anytime soon though, as Agent Lundy has come to the conclusion that The Bay Harbour Butcher is definitely a police employee, he has drafted in extra help from the FBI and ordered a review of all cases dealt with by Miami Metro homicide, a call which almost sees Dexter pay, as Lundy finds a case which Doakes dealt with and notices that it was lost due to some bad blood work, the kind of thing that Dexter wouldn’t normally mess up. In this episode nothing really happens with that but it’s something that could come up again in later episodes.

“Morning Comes” is a brilliant episode of what is turning out to be the brilliant season of Dexter that I was promised, so much was on display here it’s difficult to keep up at times. Good to hear some Creedence Clearwater Revival with their hit Bad Moon Rising and I Loved Dexter getting his revenge on Jiminez as you’ve probably guessed, the tempo in Dexter right now is electric, roll on episode 9 “Resistance is Futile”.

TV Review: DEXTER - That Night, a Forest Grew 2.7

“No matter what you try, no matter when, no matter how hard you work, I’ll always be one step ahead of you for one simple reason. I own you” – Dexter to Sgt Doakes

Dexter’s second season really didn’t get going for me until his new alter ego The Dark Defender arrived in episode five, now it seems that season two is in full flow as it’s just delivered it’s best episode yet in “That Night, a Forest Grew”, with Dexter finally taking control from Agent Lundy, leading the police on all sorts of wild Goose chases and really upping the auntie on the mind games with Sgt Doakes. However just as Dexter thinks he has it all figured out, it seemingly backfires on him as Doakes is suspended and now has 24 hours a day to watch Dexter, whilst Agent Lundy figures out that Miami Metro have been dealt a duff hand by The Bay Harbour Butcher and comes to the conclusion that the serial killer must work in Law Enforcement.

It’s a brilliant start to the episode as Dexter (The REAL Bay Harbour Butcher) sends a 32 page manifesto to The Miami Herald Tribune, knowing full well this will get forwarded to Miami Metro’s homicide division he returns to work to watch Agent Lundy and his joint task force set off in every direction imaginable thinking they finally have a lead on the elusive Bay Harbour Butcher. Little do Miami Metro know at first that Dexter has just pulled a load of information together from various blogs and then “presto manifesto”, being a police employee he knows exactly what to say in order to send them in the wrong direction giving him some breathing space to concentrate on the ever more suspicious Sgt Doakes.

Doakes has been following Dexter since the beginning of the season after noticing that something just doesn’t sit right with Miami Metro’s blood spatter analyst, his constant harassment of Dexter which was majorly upped during “Dex, Lies, and Videotape”. Now, Dexter is backed into a corner and after feeling it necessary to report Sgt Doakes to Lieutenant LaGuerta he has now taken matters into his own hands. In a brilliant scene started with Dexter muttering to Doakes the words I mentioned above he casually gets up and head butt’s him in the secrecy of his lab before immediately leaving knowing full well that Doakes will follow him and react. And react he does punching Dexter to the face in front of the whole office, once again Dexter wins and Doakes looks like the trouble maker.

Of course Doakes being suspended from Miami Metro doesn’t stop him following Dexter, in fact like I said above he now has even more time on his hands to continue his chase. This should prove to be a fascinating battle between Dexter and Doakes for the remainder of the season as Dexter is now going to have to deal with him, either kill him or in some very clever way frame him whilst he is watching constantly.

Still, this week Dexter is in quandary, he never wanted to leave Rita she just kicked him out thanks to the devious and ever more psychotic Lila. Dexter was somewhat thrown into her arms last week and she would like him all to herself, but Dexter still has family ties and he loves this side of his relationship with Rita, he is contacted by Cody and agrees to be at the school for his display. Not happy about this Lila shows us all just how crazy she can be and proves once and for all that although she quenches Dexter’s urges to kill people she is also very bad news.

On a side note Debra dumped her gym buddy this week and made her intentions towards Agent Lundy known when supposedly checking out the local marina she made her move regardless of the huge old enough to be her father age difference.

Also good news this week is the removal of Rita’s mother from her home, after young Cody took it upon himself to call Dexter (the only father figure in his life) Rita’s mother punished him, an act which Rita was not happy about and proceeded to throw out her mother, finally. This was a brilliant episode of Dexter’s second season and probably provides the turning point heading towards the finale. Dexter v Doakes, Dexter v Lundy, Dexter v Lila, The Bay Harbour Buthcer has some great battles coming in the next few weeks.

Movie Review: THE DARK KNIGHT (2008) Starring Christian Bale

So, it's Saturday night and the wife is out with friends I decide to go and do what I promised on Friday, watch The Dark Knight, the 2008 and second instalment of the Batman franchise to star British actor Christian Bale. Given the hype that the new Dark Knight Rises has created and the hype which this one received I figured it was about time I treat myself to this movie delight. Is that what I got? Yes, in parts this was a very good movie, more so when The Joker (Heath Ledger) was on the screen, easy to see why he won an Oscar following this performance. The Dark Knight was very much the action packed blockbuster I was expecting.

Satrring: Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Aaron Eckhart, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Morgan Freeman, Gary Oldman and Michael Caine

The Plot

Batman, Lieutenant Jim Gordon (Oldman) and District Attorney Harvey Dent (Eckhart) have taken a major step towards eradicating crime on the streets of Gotham City. Now, they are after the city's big Mob bosses who are laundering money with the help of corrupt banks and Chinese businessman Lau (Chin Han). The Mob don't know what to do and seemingly have no way to fight back against the relentless efforts of the authorities until a new criminal mastermind and ruthless lunatic known as The Joker comes along and vows to kill Batman and give Gotham City the real criminal it deserves, a one who isn't driven by money.

The Verdict

Brilliant Directing, brilliant producing, brilliant CGI, brilliant story, brilliant writing and to top it all brilliant acting from all involved including a surprising turn from Aaron Eckhart, the usual chick flick leading romance man. Christopher and Jonathan Nolan have to be two of the hottest properties in Hollywood right now, everything they do or even touch seems to turn to gold and the writing that they produce and their direction given in movies really seems to bring the best out of actors who maybe wouldn't normally look quite as good. That's not taking anything away from anyone in this movie they were all brilliant and proven over time but in The Dark Knight they manage to step it up a major level. I thought that 2005's Batman Begins was good, turns out that merely scratched the surface because this is comic book film making at it's very best.

I loved the story in this movie, not your normal good guy v bad guy for me, although it was ultimately Batman v The Joker, The Dark Knight was given another dimension thanks to the inclusion of the Mob bosses and their money laundering scheme. Having not read a comic book before I'm not sure that's true to originals or not but in this movie that really worked for me. Normally in movies Mob bosses are depicted as the people to be frightened of but here they merely play in the shadows to the insane and phsychopatihc Joker. As far as movie villains go Heath Ledger's Joker will go down in history as one of the best.

Christian Bale also makes another lasting impression as the Caped Crusader, plenty has been said about the most recent Dark Knight Rises and how Tom Hardy's voice had to be toned down thanks to the device over his face, in this instalment of the movie Bale manages to gruff his up all on his own. I'm a real big fan of Christian Bale, more so in movies than real life having seen him interviewed a couple of times I find him a little arrogant. It's probably a strange comparison to make but Bruce Wayne is very much like Bale in real life, at least what we see of him, whilst Batman seems to be the opposite. Wayne is spurred on in this movie by his love for Rachael Dawes (Maggie Gyllenhaal) who replaced Katie Holmes in this movie, I didn't have a problem with her in Batman Begins but in all honesty I wouldn't say I payed enough attention to notice that she had been replaced, maybe it's just that long since I seen the other one.

It's unsurprising that The Dark Knight won so many awards most notable of all were all the best supporting actor ones awarded posthumously to Heath Ledger, included amongst those awards was the Oscar that he won. The Joker, a genuinely terrifying villain who you believe will actually carry out the acts which he has threatened, that's not normally the case in movies, the good guys tend to get their first however in The Dark Knight Christopher Nolan constantly has you on the edge of your seat "is he really going to rip this guys mouth open?", and yeah he does, violence, explosions, shooting and martial arts really are at a premium here.

My favourite parts of the movie were by far and away the scenes which included The Joker, Heath Ledger owned that screen even over and above Christian Bale. I loved the scene where Eric Roberts was heading up the Falcone crime family meeting about "The Joker" who is stealing all their money, just then The Joker casually strolls in and is threatened with the usual, he takes out a pencil and says "first, a magic trick" before smashing one of the mob enforcers heads into the table and impaling their eye with the pencil, now that's a sure fied way to make people know you mean business. I also loved the hospital scene with The Joker, just after Harvey Dent has been turned into Two Face, this is one scene which really displays just how crazy of a villain The Joker is.

To cap it off I really loved this movie, everything about it was brilliant, I gave myself a bit of a "wow" when I saw on IMDB that The Dark Knight has grossed over $1 billion worldwide, I got an even bigger "wow" when I learned that its only the 12th highest grossing movie of all time. If I had a complaint then it would be that at almost three hours long it's a bit of a stretch, so make sure you start watching early enough. Second to that the sound, it is really brilliant but in the action scenes I found myself turning it down whilst when their was acting dialogue going on you had to have it pretty loud, but maybe that's just my speakers. A brilliant effort all round I would say.

The Music

It really shouldn't be surprising that the music score in The Dark Knight is brilliant, that is pretty much a running theme through all of Christopher Nolan's movies including the masterful Inception. In The Dark Knight the score is once again provided by Hans Zimmer and boy does it add to the suspense on offer.

Would I watch it again?

Not for a while, If I watch movies again it tends to be on TV and even then it's a movie that I can put on and not have to think vigorously about, at two hours thirty minutes to just stick on The Dark Knight might be a bit of a stretch, but ultimately I would watch this again.

This Week In Cinema's..... THE DARK KNIGHT RISES, RAP Music is Back and LOLA Gets Dumped

Ok, so I didn’t manage to get any cinema releases out to you last week, luckily you didn’t miss to much as nothing that great was released. That would be the case again this week, but for very good reason. Today sees the UK release of one of the most anticipated movies in history The Dark Knight Rises, it promises to be one of the biggest movie openings of all time having already taken 25m in pre-release orders (that’s just in the US). Not a Batman fan? Then don’t worry, there are a couple of others who have braved releases and one in particular looks pretty good.

I’ll start as always with the biggest release of the week The Dark Knight Rises starring Christian Bale in his last outing as Batman along with Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Tom Hardy, Liam Neeson, Anne Hathaway, Gary Oldman, Marion Cotillard and Morgan Freeman. The hype surrounding this movie has been going on for some time now so there is nothing further that I can really add, but just in case you have been hiding under a rock for the last year and a half here’s a quick synopsis of what you can expect to see from the latest superhero blockbuster. The Dark Knight Rises picks up the action 8 years after The Dark Knight, Batman is still in hiding (I believe) having taken the wrap for Dent’s crimes during the previous movie. However, there is now a new terrorist in town named Bane (Tom Hardy) who is planning on destroying Gotham City, with the authorities struggling to cope Batman fells compelled to come out his cave (so to speak) and help defeat the group. I have the latest trailer here for you now, but if you like you can go check out the very first trailer release or even check out the Super Bowl sneak peak I posted a while back.

I’ve never seen The Dark Knight, although I am hoping to get round to that this weekend. I have reviewed Batman Begins which was Bale’s first outing as The Dark Knight and I thought that was a brilliant movie. One thing I will say for The Dark Knight Rise is that you better make sure you are sitting comfy in the theatre because the movie run time is 2 hours and 45 minutes.

Now like I say The Dark Knight Rises is not the only theatrical release this week, a couple of others have braved to go against the grain. The first of those to mention would be Something From Nothing: The Art of Rap, it’s more of a documentary than a movie and it focuses on rap music (obviously). The director is non other than 80’s and early 90’s rap superstar Ice-T who now has his own reality TV show on the E! Entertainment network, for the documentary Ice pulls favours from friends old and new including Chuck D, Ice Cube, B-Real, Common, Joe Budden, Royce Da 5’9 and most famous of them all – probably Dr Dre, Snoop Dogg, Kanye West and Dexter season 6 guest star Mos Def. They all go about some interviews and exclusive performances which show rap music from its very beginning charting the music’s rise to international prominence thanks to the guys mentioned above as well as Biggie Smalls and Tupac. Check out the trailer for it below.

I wouldn’t say that I’m a hardcore rap music fan by any means but I do like a lot of the music that some of the guys mentioned above put out. I will probably see this movie as it’s the kind of thing I like to watch, man. I feel a music post coming up soon featuring rap music only.

Last one to mention now is a movie I haven’t heard of named Lola Versus, due to other releases this week it will probably remain unheard of but the cast is quite impressive and if your date isn’t up for all action movies this week then this may be more your squeeze. Starring Greta Gerwig, Joel Kinnaman, Zoe Lister Jones, Bill Pullman and Debra Winger, Lola Versus is the story of Lola (again, obviously) played by Grewig. At the age of 29 she is dumped by her fiancé just three weeks before their wedding, Lola reacts by getting one of her friends to come on a series of adventures with her in order to help her deal with almost being 30. Not my idea of fun but I’m sure someone somewhere will go see it, check out the trailer below.

Comic-Con 2012: PERSON OF INTEREST Cast Interviews and Gossip

Ok so I have to apologise first off as I thought that maybe we would get to see a trailer for the upcoming second season of hit CBS show Person of Interest at this years Comic-Con, I sort of promised it on the Dexter 2 minute sneak peak post. Unfortunately that’s not the case but, what we have been provided is a panel interview with show runner Jonathan Nolan and the main cast members Jim Cavizel, Michael Emerson, Taraji P. Henson and Kevin Chapman. We were also given access to a couple of interviews with Mr Finch and Mr Reese who seem to bounce off each other well in real life, and we also got a chat with Carter and Fusco on how they see their characters in TV’s most kick ass show. Make sure you watch the Reese and Finch video until at least 4.40, that way you get to check out Jim Cavizel’s Homer Simpson impression.

So, big plans for Root, that’s good news and reading between the lines the machine will be playing a big part, Nolan said “It has a contract”.

If you managed to hang on for the entire interview then you’ll have heard a member of the audience ask if the machine will ever work out of the constraints of New York City, a very good question and one which we have debated over many times here at Movies Music & Television. Unfortunately creator Jonathan Nolan was giving nothing away and answered “that’s the spin-off, Person of Interest Cleveland.”

Person of Interest is due to return to our screens on September 27^th at 9pm with the season 2 premiere named “The Contingency”, now that’s a pretty intriguing name if I do say so myself. If you remember in the season one finale review we talked about the contingency plan which had been built into the machine by it’s co-founder and creator Nathan Ingram who may or may not be dead, Finch was not in favour of the so called “back door” entry into the machine as it wasn’t as secure as he would like, proved when the system was breached by ultimate hacker and season finale protagonist Root, the female who staged her own kidnapping in New York knowing that Mr’s Reese and Finch would be straight on her case allowing her to kidnap Finch.

According to Michael Emerson the guest star in the first episode is someone from Lost, who will play the Person of Interest. Let’s throw some names out my first though Dominic Monaghan (Charlie in Lost), strange dude and possible intriguing Person of Interest.

Now the title “Contingency” could see the opening episode going two ways, maybe Mr Reese is going to need a contingency plan following the kidnapping of Finch, we know the machine is still issuing numbers (SSN’s”) but what we don’t know is who was on the other end of that phone which Reese picked up in “Firewall”, chances are it’s the machine itself, if not then there are a list of people including Nathan Ingram, Elias or indeed Root. The other contingency plan which could be needed is that of Mr Finch’s rescue, that’s assuming that Reese does not do whatever he is ordered to over the phone, maybe the very aware machine is issuing the SSN of Harold Finch and that is going to be Reese’s main mission come September. I’m sure that whatever the deal is Person of Interest will not fail to disappoint and thanks to Jim Cavizel spending time with U.S Navy Seal teams I’m sure this will be kick ass once again.

Comic-Con 2012: BREAKING BAD Season 5 Trailer

Now this is one show which I really love but unfortunatly can't comment on to much as this far I've only seen the first season of breaking bad. I've done a few individual reviews of the show but it's probably best to check out my season 1 review on the whole. I just got the season 2 box set which I'll be starting on soon and hopefully I'll catch up with season 5 before the second part starts to air next year. Check out the trailer below.

Ok, so I can't really tell you much of what is going on in the trailer but it doesn't half make me look faorward to next season and the one's following that. Needless to say that Walter White's (Bryan Cranston) and Jesse Pinkman's (Aaron Paul) crystal meth operation is a lot more advanced than Jesse's campervan during the first season. All hail the KING.

TV Review: DEXTER - Dex, Lies, and Videotape 2.6

Dexter’s alter ego The Dark Defender certainly has a lot on his mind lately, Doakes knows he’s hiding something, Rita’s mother has helped end his relationship, he has a new one to deal with in Lila and to top it all The Bay Harbour Butcher has acquired a copycat killer who has willingly gone out and killed a former criminal. Now Lundy, sick of Masuka’s titty jokes has called Dexter in as lead forensic examiner on the Bay Harbour case, a move which Dexter thinks is to keep a closer eye on him. The biggest problem of all for Dexter during this episode comes when he learns of the cameras which have been set up where he moors his boat, has he been caught? Does Lundy know?

There was plenty going on during this episode, a lot of which didn’t focus on The Bay Harbour case. For me the meat of this episode was all about Dexter discovering that the camera was rolling the night he chooses to clean his boat. Now, Dexter needs to find out if he’s been caught and strikes lucky when he finds that yes, the cameras are recording but good for him Miami Metro’s computer systems are not quite up to date enough to receive the footage, all Dexter needs to do now is gain access to the office which Agent Lundy has had double locked and delete the relevant portion of footage which would finish him.

I suppose it was always going to happen during this season of Dexter but finally Dexter and Lila have made it official, with her helping to quench Dexter's urges in other ways. It was going to happen during this season like I said above but I’ve no doubt that Rita’s pain in the ass mother is the major protagonist in it all, inviting Dexter and his sponsor Lilia over for dinner. What did Rita find out? Only that during a road trip in the previous episode Dexter had been joined by Lila and they spent the night together, oops, looks like Rita’s mother got her way then. The situation really isn’t helped by the fact that Rita has informed her mother that Dexter is a junkie, or so she thinks and tells her that Dexter is going through a program to try to kick his habit. Not a lie, of course, it only happens to be a very different habit to what she thinks it is.

The fact that there is now a copy cat killer on the loose Dexter at first thinks that he can breathe a sigh of relief as the FBI and Miami Metro now have another angle to work on, only problem is Lundy threatens that if they don't catch the copycat killer quickly then the FBI will take full control of the Bay Harbour Butcher case.

Masuka totally cracks me up, about ten minutes in he's in an elevator with Agent Lundy and asks him if it's true that the FBI are monitoring all of the units Internet activity, if so then he can explain all the she male stuff. Lundy walks away without saying a word and heads straight for Dexter who he wants to come and do forensics on the copycat killers lair, again Masuka pipes up "He's totally seen the she male stuff". Now out in the field Dexter and Lundy have a conversation regarding the Bay Harbour Butcher, this is when Lundy informs him of the camera's in Coral Cove harbour.

I really feel that this is one of those episodes where I don't really have a lot to say, I enjoyed it especially Dexter trying to delete the video footage and the fact that Doakes is growing evermore suspicious of our favourite blood spatter expert. Other than that it was all involving Rita, her mother and Lila, not all that much fun in my opinion but the episode served well in moving the story forward to what I'm sure will be a very impressive finale involving Dexter, Lila and Doakes.

Movie Review: That AMERICAN PIE REUNION Went Rather Well

It's Saturday night and as usual with no X Factor or Britain's Got Talent to air the UK TV networks find it within themselves to put out a load of repeats both movie and TV wise which are of no interest to anyone. The wife and I decide it's a movie night and get to work on deciding what to watch, Wanderlust is mentioned but the trailer doesn't fill us with confidence, I try to shove Mission Impossible Ghost protocol under her nose but she waves that one away, then we stumble across American Pie Reunion or American Reunion whatever you want to call it, I head to IMDB we check out the trailer, laugh our asses off and that's it decision made. American Reunion it is.

Starring: Jason Biggs, Sean William Scott, Eugene Levy, Alyson Hannigan, Chris Klein, Thomas Ian Nicholas, Tara Reid, Eddie Kaye Thomas, Mena Suvari and finally Jennifer Coolidge as Stiflers Mom

The Plot

Thirteen Years ago now five high school kids set out on a long and hilarious summer quest to loose their virginity. Now, Jim, Oz, Kev, Finch and Stifler are back their lives have gone in all different directions as they wind up in their home town of East Great Falls for their high school reunion. Jim and Michelle are now married with a kid, Oz is a sports broadcaster dating a model, Kev is a house husband, Finch is a criminal (sort of) and Stifler hasn't changed a bit signalling his intention to get the guys f**ked up on their family weekend home, better strap yourself in for toilet humour and fart jokes galore.

You can check out the American Reunion Redband trailer HERE.

The Verdict

Was the acting good? Well, no not really it wasn't great, the main cast were quite good apart from a couple. My main gripe would be with Stifler (Sean William Scott), undoubtedly he is a very funny guy but in real life he is nearly 36, back in 1999 to pull off a cool joke jibing teenager was not a problem but since then his movie career has been up and down, to take him seriously in this movie was difficult at times. Don't get me wrong I laughed pretty much every time he was on the screen as he is of course playing to everything you expect Stfiler to, but maybe tone it down a little. The age thing really shouldn't be an issue as in the 1999 movie they all played teenagers when they were in fact in their 20's, a move which worked well for this franchise but went badly wrong in British comedy of the same nature The Inbetweeners.

American Reunion was dirty jokes galore, dirty ones which you could see coming from a mile off, but when they get there you can't help but laugh your ass off. Jim's (Jason Biggs) nymphomaniac girlfriend Michelle (Alyson Hannigan) is now his nymphomaniac wife, they have a kid together and lets just say that the bedtime action has somewhat dried up resulting in Jim being glued (almost) to his laptop whilst Michelle lies in the bath and gets herself off with the shower. It probably helps that this is the opening scene to the movie and it gets you laughing right from the off.

The original American Pie series was rounded off quite well I thought with American Wedding in 2003, following that the American Pie series has had another four adaptions all of which went straight to DVD, "Band Camp", "The Naked Mile", "Beta House" and "The Look of Love". I've seen Band Camp which focused on StIflers younger brother and in alL honesty that was so shit it swayed me from watching any of the others which also didn't star any of the original cast members. Doing the reunion the way they did is the only way that this could have worked and making it a big payday for the actors originally involved was a well worthy move. Released in May this year (2012) American Reunion has already grossed over 172m worldwide, with money like that I wouldn't be surprised if we see yet another reunion.

Seriously, for the lady friend and I this was like being a couple of teenagers once again as all the original cast from 1999's American Pie got back together and staged a reunion in their native East Great Falls. It was a brilliant laugh out loud comedy and I haven't had as much fun with a movie in this genre since The Hangover Part II, that said. American Pie Reunion didn't come without it's little annoyances but thanks to everything else they can be overlooked on this occasion. It's another one of those movies that is what it is, a popcorn flick which rounds off a very well received movie franchise.

The Best Bit

Following their night out Jim wakes up on the kitchen floor wearing no pants, not even underwear. His wife and her friend walk into the room and Jim tries to conceal his penis only to cover it with a see through pan lid. If it was prosthetic then it was a good one.

The Soundtrack

The music in American Reunion was brilliant apart from the bit which included the Spice Girls and a song written by Victoria Beckham. Other than that you had Montell Jordan's This is how We Do It and some Boyz II Men.

Would I watch it again?

I've seen the other three original movies a bunch of times and without doubt I would watch American Reunion again.