Television, Film and Book reviews

1. Saw the first episode of Good Omens -- which is adapted from Neil Gaiman and Terry Prachet's satiric farce of the same name. I was curious to see how someone would adapt it -- since the book has lots of footnotes, and is mainly two people, an angle and a demon, debating Judeo/Christian moral philosophy and the pros and cons of the apocalypse.

The television series is a lot like the books -- although better paced and a tad less hard to follow -- ie, the footnotes are voice overs, which work better. It reminds me a little of Legion in how it handles the footnotes.

Also, it is adapted by Neil Gaiman, he's writing the television series, and producing it. So we're not seeing someone else's interpretation of his work -- but his own. This doesn't happen that often with novel to screen adaptations. And it stars Michael Sheen and David Tennant, who are actors that tend to get cast for similar roles. Tennant plays the flamboyant Crowley, and Sheen the prissy Arizaphan.
Jon Hamm is stalwart Gabriel.

The soundtrack is...Queen.

Is it good? Eh, depends on what you like. ( no spoilers just long )

2. Isn't it Romantic?

Eh. This was bad. The critic gave it two stars. I gave it one. Were romantic comedies always this bad? Although technically it's not a romantic comedy, but a meta-narrative on a romantic comedy -- or a parody of a metanarrative on a romantic comedy -- which may be the problem? That's really hard to pull off well. Four Weddings and a Funeral did pull it off, but it's British and subtle. The Brits are better at this sort of thing, apparently, see Good Omens and well, Monty Python.
As did My Best Friend's Wedding -- which was also a satiric take on the romantic comedy. And There's Something About Mary. Also Amy Schumer's Trainwreck did a decent job.
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3. Blood and Treasure -- this is on CBS. And it's not bad. It's actually a whole lot better than Whiskey Cavalier and The Catch. I liked The Catch -- but it was horribly miscast. You know there's a problem when the sexiest characters are John Sims and Sonya Walger, who played the bad guys. Peter Krause is a lot of things, but sexy and edgy aren't among them.

Blood and Treasure is a lot better, in part because it's cast largely with unknowns. And it has far more diversified casting than Whiskey did. Not to mention stronger female characters, without falling into gender role cliches on either end of the spectrum.

It also has a definite feeling of Indiana Jones, and is a serialized adventure drama. ( somewhat spoilery )

Some of the supporting actors I recognized from other things -- whoa there's Doctor Bashire from DS9. I love that actor. I have admittedly followed him around a bit. My two favorite characters and actors from DS9 were Bashire and Major Kira.

It's a bit too shiny in places, to be taken seriously, but overall enjoyable. Brainless summer fun.

4. Where'd You Go Bernadette by Maria Semple

I didn't love this as much as lot of people did. And I agree with this guy's Review of it on Good Reads.

Particularly:
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It's worth reading for the narrative style. But it falls apart in attempting to go for conventional story tropes. Also, while the satire of Seattle, Microsoft, and the elite is fun, it's also as the reviewer above points out, well-traveled stuff.

I liked Bernadette better than the reviewer did. ( Read more... )