Media Roundup

[shadowkat]

Currently 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.

Comments

[flake-sake.livejournal.com]

Not seen any of the others but I saw Tyrant and Vampire Academy.

Tyrant is a trainwreck with a stupid accent. It's just packed with cliches about the middle east, it is seriously annoying.

Vampire Academy was also a hot mess. How could they make such a terrible movie out of an actually quite decent YA book?

I read only two or three books but they were really nice. Imho they beat the Sookie Stackhouse books quite thoroughly. The characters are fun, Rose really is a kick-ass girl hero. But the movie? A complete mess? They did not take time for anything, everything felt artificial and rushed, there was no chemistry between any of the actors. Terrible.

[ann1962]

I enjoyed Extant also. Smart show. Nice depiction of marriage and many types of grief (death, infertility, work related) and the interplay between them all.

[cactuswatcher.livejournal.com]

Welcome to Sweden is another European import. The pacing seems really off for our tastes. One or two amusing spots in the half hour. As Uncle What's-his-name says, "Fo-get-abou-dit!"

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it had a lot going on and was rather well done. Particularly the examination of the different ways you lose people or become isolated. And how technology and science can be isolating.

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

It's not hard to be better than the Sookie Stackhouse mysteries - which are atrocious. Worst urban fantasy written. True Blood is 100% better than the original series - and it's not exactly great either - and the only reason it is better than the original series is that it ignored most of it and just took the essential concept, which was actually interesting.

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.

[flake-sake.livejournal.com]

If you have the chance catch "the honourable woman". It's really ecellent and set before the background of the Israel-Palestine conflict, but in really smart and beautiful way. Also Maggy Gyllenhaal is brilliant in the lead.

The VA books are hardly Shakespeare, which is why I compared them to the Sookie Stackhouse series. It's light stuff. But the books are gripping, the realtionships, especially Lyssa and Rose, are done really well and the whole thing is fun.

You're totally right that the movie felt like a summary. It was, but really badly done. It was like they fast forwarded through the book. You hardly remembered the side characters.

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

Honorable Woman hasn't made it over here yet. But if I see it, definitely will check it out.

[sophist.livejournal.com]

Instead of reading all these other bad books and watching all these other bad shows, I wish you'd finish GoT. It's killing me not to spoil you for the end of book 5.