Media Roundup
Jul. 13th, 2014 02:59 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkatCurrently 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.
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Date: 2014-07-13 09:22 pm (UTC)But agree - Vampire Academy was a hot mess. It jumped around. Spent far too much explaining itself and using flashbacks, instead of building suspense and story. As a result it was hard to care. Shame because Rose and the Mroi she was protecting were interesting characters, and their relationship could have been developed. They filmed it wrong.
I'd have started with the parents death, and their induction to the academy and ended with their escape from it. That would have built up a relationship with Miss Karp, and left us with the creepy cliff-hanger of what happened to her. Then the next movie could be them being brought back and trying to figure out what happened to Miss Karp...Instead they cobbled story arcs from three movies into 2 hours. Racing through each one, without developing any of the characters or building the plot. I felt like I was watching a summary of the books. Whoever attempting adapt this - needs to find a new job.
Tyrant - you are right. It is a mess. It feels like an American Crime Drama.
And I've seen it done one too many times - predictable and cliche. Also annoying. I made it through the first episode, but not the third, and managed to skip the second. I deleted from DVR. Not worth my time.
So far, the only summer series pilot that has held my attention is Extant.
Course I haven't seen everything.