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Media Roundup
Jul. 13th, 2014 02:59 pmCurrently watching Tyrant - apparently I didn't manage to tape the second episode, although not sure it matters. Can easily follow it - which isn't necessary a good thing for a serialized drama. It's okay, as long as you don't think that hard about it. Typical story - man leaves violent family business to become a doctor, gets dragged back in upon his father's death. Think The Godfather except in the context of a middle eastern country and the godfather is a nasty dictator. It's sort of predictable, and wee bit on the cliche side. (Can anyone add anything new to the Godfather trope? I don't think so.) And women are treated horrifically - which goes without saying in this trope. You know, the usual, rape, beating, slavery. Women really have no power. Although there are a few strong women in the series - unlike the Godfather, so there's that. It may be realistic, but it is also tiresome. Not sure why they couldn't have handled another language with subtitles, considering I'm watching it with close captioning. And...alas, my attention is wandering during it now, not helped by the number of commercials.
That said, I was able to make it through the first episode, which is more than I can say for Welcome to Sweden - considering it was only thirty minutes this does not bode well for the series. I was bored 15 minutes in and found my attention wandering to other things. Granted, I'm picky about situation comedies and most of them bore me. This one reminded me of Brooklyn Nine Nine and Parks and Recreation in how it was set up - kooky characters, a dumb straight man or woman, and bureaucracy. Except not quite as clever or funny as the other two. I fail to see why so many American critics liked it. But I also am not that fond of Parks & Recreation or Brooklyn Nine Nine. I miss the 1980s comedies.
Extant - the new Stephen Spielberg/Halle Berry series, with Goran Ivansek is actually quite good - or at least the pilot was. Has an interesting premise - the heroine, Halle Berry, manages to get pregnant while away on a 13 month solo mission. Considering she couldn't get pregnant before, and her husband designed an artificial child to deal with inability to conceive - this freaks her out. There's some interesting issues being examined, which admittedly have been explored in depth elsewhere, notably in the Alien films and in A.I. But it's well directed/produced/written and more importantly held my interest. Considering few shows have this summer, that is saying something.
Watched the movie Vampire Academy - and that's a few hours, I won't get back. Not worth the time. It was really silly -- although it's possible that I'm not the correct audience for it.
That said, I was able to make it through the first episode, which is more than I can say for Welcome to Sweden - considering it was only thirty minutes this does not bode well for the series. I was bored 15 minutes in and found my attention wandering to other things. Granted, I'm picky about situation comedies and most of them bore me. This one reminded me of Brooklyn Nine Nine and Parks and Recreation in how it was set up - kooky characters, a dumb straight man or woman, and bureaucracy. Except not quite as clever or funny as the other two. I fail to see why so many American critics liked it. But I also am not that fond of Parks & Recreation or Brooklyn Nine Nine. I miss the 1980s comedies.
Extant - the new Stephen Spielberg/Halle Berry series, with Goran Ivansek is actually quite good - or at least the pilot was. Has an interesting premise - the heroine, Halle Berry, manages to get pregnant while away on a 13 month solo mission. Considering she couldn't get pregnant before, and her husband designed an artificial child to deal with inability to conceive - this freaks her out. There's some interesting issues being examined, which admittedly have been explored in depth elsewhere, notably in the Alien films and in A.I. But it's well directed/produced/written and more importantly held my interest. Considering few shows have this summer, that is saying something.
Watched the movie Vampire Academy - and that's a few hours, I won't get back. Not worth the time. It was really silly -- although it's possible that I'm not the correct audience for it.