Terry Jones' Medieval Lives makes me feel really bad that he's always been my least favorite Monty Python member. I think he weirds me out in drag (and my heart belongs mostly to the erratic Graham Chapman). Here, he's still in drag a bit – but more importantly he's created an absorbing show that portrays the real lives of various classes and occupations of the middle ages.

I find many history shows err either on the side of being way to dry or way too dumbed down, but this entertaining program is the perfect balance.?The focus is on the daily lives of the people of the time, the part of history I always find most intriguing, and to debunk the myths and misconceptions about the era. The “damsel in distress” for example is largely a fabrication of the Victorian Era, a time which wanted to put women in their place far more than the middle ages did.

Visually, the program is also fun with plenty of Monty Python-esque?animation and goofy humor. It originally aired in 2004 and was nominated for an Emmy. Later he made Terry Jones' Barbarians, The Story of 1 (a history of the number 1), The Secret History of Sex and Love, The Hidden History of Rome, The Hidden History of Egypt, Ancient Inventions, and The Crusades, which I look forward to watching soon – looks like my netflix queue will be full of the work of no longer my least favorite Monty Python member.

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Posted on September 1, 2008

I have some friends whose DVR is packed with episodes of Yo Gabba Gabba and they're not three years old.?Though I couldn't ever see myself managing to watch that many of them, it's a super cute kids show. Definitely geared to little ones, the songs have lyrics like “there's a nose on my face, a nose on my face, a nose on my face” and “there's a party in my tummy” the lessons are basic (Don't Throw Things at Friends, Some Things Are Big, Some Things Are Small, Sometimes You Win, Sometimes You Lose, and Be Nice To Animals for example) but it's a uniquely interesting show geared towards kids. Everything from the graphics to the guest stars which include Elijah Wood, Biz Markie, Leslie Hall, and Mark Mothersbaugh is appealing to the hip, older crowd.

It's a very modern show that makes sense for a new generation of parents. I know I will be delighted when I have kids that Yo Gabba Gabba exists and hopefully it still will by then because I most other kids stuff is hard to stomach. I think there's a good chance it's here to stay for a while. Not only because kids and stoners love it, but thanks to the alliance with the great Kid Robot, it's making its money with the Newberry Comics set. Just ask The Nightmare Before Christmas how much that can keep you in the public eye.

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Posted on August 18, 2008

Despite a 2008 Oscar win for best short animation and some really intriguing still photos, Sergei Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf, a new adaptation of the classic piece of music, has been just sitting unwatched in my DV-R for months. I guess I can't always trust that kid friendly equals interesting but, in this case, I can promise that it will be an exceptional visual treat for anyone, regardless of their age.

Eerie and slightly mournful, this retelling is very reminiscent of the Eastern European legacy of stop motion animation that has permanently changed the look of the medium. I assumed it was Russian since the story takes place there, but I learned from watching the making of (which is just as interesting) it's actually a Norwegian, Polish and British affair, with Brit Suzie Templeton at the creative helm.

After making a name for herself with the haunting short Dog, Templeton spent five years on this project from writing the script to designing the characters–and she has done a phenomenal job. Each character is so lovingly rendered, they breathe with such life and charm it's almost hard to remember they're not real. The long neck duck, Peter's best friend, and the bowling-ball-fat fluff ball cat are my personal favorites.

We saw it on PBS's Great Performances, but no airings on currently on their schedule. According to Wikipedia there are plans for tours of the film with accompanied orchestration during 2008. However you can manage to see it, try to. It's a testament to the painstaking art of stop motion animation and the worlds of wonder it can create in the right hands.

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Posted on August 4, 2008

The critically revered Edge of Darkness is often referred to as a miniseries about espionage and that's a bit misleading if you, like me, therefor expect some traditional spying. It is a political thriller to be sure, as well as a murder mystery with an environmental cautionary tale and a family tragedy thrown in.

It takes a couple episodes to completely suck you in. It doesn't start slow exactly, but as more and more layers and complexities pile on it becomes more absorbing. By the third hour we were hooked and in totally agreement with the general (British) love for the show. It's never been released in the US sadly, though, (also sadly) it is going to be remade into a film starring Mel “sugar tits” Gibson.

He'll be taking the reigns from Bob Peck, who is spectacular in the role of Detective Craven, a man with a stiff upper lip and woeful eyes. I am surprised to say I haven't seen much of him in other BBC productions. It's a small world and you usually recognize all the faces. For example all making appearances here: Hastings from Poirot, Zoe Wanamaker from Prime Suspect and Harry Potter, and Joe Don Baker.

Yes, I said Joe Don Baker. We totally freaked when we saw his name in the opening credits and I hoped for his sake he was playing himself and not attempting to play a Brit. (He's a skilled actor, but I just don't think it's in him.) But happily, he's excellent here as a Texan CIA agent, adding some much appreciated swaggering audacity to the dignified proceedings.

The miniseries won several BAFTA awards including ones for Peck and the un-timeless score by Eric Clapton & Michael Kamen. If you like your dramas intelligent and for adults, make every attempt to see Edge of Darkness.

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Posted on July 21, 2008

Like many made for TV movies that are “based on a true story”, An American Crime (as tough and grim as it is to watch) has actually tempered the severity of the original crime. In 1965, Gertrude Baniszewski was a single mother of seven who took in two girls whose parents had a tour with the circus. For a number of months, she systematically tortured one of the girls, Sylvia Likens in her basement.

It was a front page story of unspeakable and irrational evil. The heinous crime is even more despicable because her children joined in as well as neighborhood kids. It's one of those horrifying stories that begs the question, how could this happen? And calls to mind the recent theory of “group think“. It's easy to understand the reasons the makers had to remind the world of this nearly forgotten tragedy.

What could have easily been an ineffective and exploitive movie of the week is, in the hands of director Tommy O'Haver, severe and gut-wrenching. The performances, especially by Catherine Keener and Ellen Page also elevates the material. Keener in particular has the difficult job of remaining somehow human through the sometimes unbearable violence. And Ari Graynor as her malicious and confused teenage daughter is also very good here.

It's not a blatantly violent movie, much of the torture is off camera, implied or shown in bits and close ups on Page's grieving eyes, but that really doesn't make it any less disturbing. In fact, the hint of violence leaves more to the imagination and the result is even more horrifying.

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Posted on July 7, 2008