Masterpiece Classic

It’s been a while since PBS had a hit on their hands. Not because of the programs, but the programming. Will they air a new series without any advertisements? Sure! How about playing programs out of order or incomplete? Absolutely! And if you missed a new show (like I did the recent Sherlock Holmes) will they refuse to re-air them, but opt for decades old reruns of Keeping Up Appearances instead? Of course!

Sorry, just had to air my grievences.

While I am sure nothing scares Masterpiece Theater (now called Masterpiece Classics) more than being called old fashioned -they would do better with younger audiences by making their shows easy to find and watch instead of dangling Alan Cumming at us.

Shocked I was, then to find Downton Abbey (which I had failed to DVR the first two) was available on Netflix instant. Bravo Masterpiece! It was a brilliant move for an absolutely brilliant show.

While the Upstairs Downstairs genre is well worn, any fan of Gosford Park ( and I can’t imagine anyone who’s seen it not being a fan) will be utterly enchanted with Downton. It’s no surprise that the charming Julian Fellowes, who wrote Gosford, is behind this one. Sets and costumes are great but there’s much more to this one than that. The characters are interesting, the plot sometimes scandalous and the cast is perfection: From a prim, wealthy Maggie Smith to a spiteful, devilish lady’s maid played by Siobhan Finneran.

Set just before the war when families were still constrained by the rigid rules of society, Downton tells the story of the Crawley family, who when losing an heir on the Titanic, are threatened to lose their whole way of living unless Mary, the eldest daughter finds a suitable husband.

If it sounds boring and familiar, fear not. This is vibrant, funny, smart and truly one of the best of the genre. I was so unhappy to reach the end of the series and thrilled to find that its popularity has prompted shooting for a second series.

See more: TV Shows 1910s 2010s Drama Historical

2 Comments →
Posted on March 4, 2011

by Jon Brion, Cee-lo and Eva Mendes (2010)

It used to be I didn’t know this Jon Brion, then I saw him perform and I loved him, now I am ready to take it to what ever the next step is, because his Pimps Don’t Cry, performed by Cee-lo and Eva Mendes is fabulous.

Is it weird that some of my favorite songs are “parody songs” (see One Track Lover and other Matt Berry, see Reggae Man, see the Nashville soundtrack, see Higher and Higher)?

See more: Songs 2010s Funk R&B Soul

Be the first to leave a comment →
Posted on February 5, 2011

directed by Nicolas Winding Refn (2010)

Most likely, anyone entering Valhalla Rising expecting and wanting a Hollywood action epic will come to the same conclusion: “Boring!” (You can read lots of these interpretations on the Amazon reviews). I however, am the opposite. I turned King Arthur off in the middle of what I am sure the makers assumed was the most exciting scene and nearly fell asleep with boredom five seconds into the latest Robin Hood trailer.

Action pics just aren’t interesting to me anymore, but this, this is no action pic despite some of the most brutal fight scenes I’ve seen in some time. No, this is more akin to Aguirre The Wrath of God than Clash of the Titans and in all it’s arty pretension, I found it fascinating and wonderful.

Mads Mikkelsen stars as One Eye, an enslaved Gladiator type warrior who claims to have come from hell who has no qualms about killing men with his teeth. After escaping his captors and earning a young boy as devoted follower and translator, he meets up with a band of violent Christian crusaders bound for Jerusalem. In a fog of mist however, they wander off course from Scotland to the New World and mistake it for Hell. Hallucinating ensues and death looms in slow motion.

Shot like a gorgeous heavy metal video through the eyes of Werner Herzog, this was one of the only times I’ve been frustrated with the quality of streaming video – epic high contrast landscapes just don’t hold up to compression very well. In hindsight, I’d have gone all out and rent the Bluray.

While this is probably not a film that will please everyone I recommend it to, one has to be happy that movies like this – that defy convention, and are not afraid of their silence and allegory are still being made. With Valhalla Rising, director Nicolas Winding Refn has become one of the most interesting filmmakers to watch.

His previous works include the drug dealing Pusher trilogy but I would love to see him tackle more of the D&D type stuff (because who else really is making seriously awesome movies set in 1000 AD about soothsaying warriors?) but am intrigued by the upcoming Only God Forgives, which is described as a Bangkok-set modern western.

Click here for the rest of Valhalla Rising

See more: Movies 2010s Action

Be the first to leave a comment →
Posted on December 24, 2010

on HBO

After rolling my eyes through the pilot episode, I was reluctant to give True Blood a second chance. My dad, whose opinion I value, talked me into giving it another try though. The trick is to accept the romance novel, terrible faux Southern accent silliness (“oh my stars!”) and just go with it. I won’t lie, there are still horribly annoying characters (putting me on a long bus trip next to Tara would be torture) who always seem to be overreacting to everything.

The show really doesn’t shine with it’s deep character portrayals, but rather when it gets weird, bloody, ridiculous and focuses on the whole vampire thing instead of the human relationships that are constantly revolving. Otherwise, it kind of resembles season two of Twin Peaks, if you know what I mean.

Not that the vamps are all that “cool”. Strangely, Alan Ball has decided to make them not too dissimilar to mall goths. They hang out at a cheesy spot called Fangtasia that looks like 1995 exploded all over it. A stylish show this is not. But if you want graveyard sex (with the not too shabby “Bill” played by Stephen Moyer), shape shifters, back woods exorcisms, and gut exploding vampires, there’s really nowhere else on TV to find it all delivered in such an unabashed package.

I used the show as part of my birth plan- it was perfect to watch during early labor because it really doesn’t require you to think but can be extremely entertaining once you let yourself go with it. We’ve only seen the first season, but are assured from fans that it just keeps getting wilder and better.

See more: TV Shows 2010s Horror

Be the first to leave a comment →
Posted on November 10, 2010

Aired on FX, Available on Netflix Instant

I know! I had absolutely no interest in watching Damages either. Single plot dramas on FX can be hard to get motivated to watch, especially if you can’t jump in mid-season or miss an episode, but with the highly critically acclaimed show on netflix instant, it’s given new life for viewers (like me). Life it desperately needs, as their ratings have fallen significantly the past (third) season.

With a first rate class cast led by Glenn Close and Rose Byrne, Damages seems to be the network’s attempt at a more serious, female driven drama to its roster of other dramas I don’t watch (The Shield, Rescue Me, Sons of Anarchy). From the fully satisfactory first season, I can say that maybe those shows should get a second look from me to0.

I don’t want to give too much plot away. It’s about lawyers, but far from a Law and Order type courtroom drama, it focuses more on the behind the scenes manipulation, double crossing and even murder that happens before a trial, specifically a trial against Mr. Frobisher, a corporate giant that, through insider trading, stole the savings and livelihood of his employees while becoming richer and richer.

It’s an appropriate bad guy for our times with real life corporate greed making headlines daily, but it’s played with an almost naive complexity by Ted Danson, who I am just liking more and more these days (he even outshines Galifianakis in the middle of the road Bored to Death). Instead of a bloated caricature, he’s very human with his confused ego, though no less terrible. Close, similarly complex, is more of an anti hero than the good guy. Even if her motivations are for the right side, she’s more capable of evil than anyone.

We’re going to start season two soon which continues the tradition of good actors featuring Timothy Olyphant, William Hurt, and Marcia Gay Harden.

See more: TV Shows 2000s 2010s Drama

Be the first to leave a comment →
Posted on October 23, 2010