Madventures S1 (first season) in the original Finnish audio with no subtitles, are I a hardcores or what lulzors! Seriously though, I know only 1 Finn around these parts and had no idea that they (Riku and Tunna, who of course represent Finland) are such party animals. Party! Finnish people are cool, and a little crazy.

4.5 out of 5. Compelling (if a tad confusing) adventure set in a post-apoc world where Man vs Machine and Man loses. Not a novel concept, Matrix (cough) Terminator (cough) but 9 delivers this in loads of style.

Instant wow. I’ve watched High Art many, many times and every time it’s excellent. Highly suitable viewing for rainy, cold autumn days or lazy summer afternoons, or any time at all. The writing and direction are top-notch, spot-on excellent acting – acting the way it seems that the actors are just being themselves, way to go! The humour is very cynical, New York, hip (so hip it hurts!), &c. That’s the only way I can describe it – of course this statement only makes sense to me, and I only lived in NYC for a handful of years, but I ran across many artistic, hip, gay, drugged-out types typified herein.

Fast forward to life after NYC and I am now in Photography, and in one class we’re shown the work of Nan Goldin and her contemporaries. I find myself thrilled, surprised, I’m not sure what. That’s when I hopped online and (only then) found out that High Art + Nan Goldin = pretty much the same thing …with a few Hollywood liberties, of course. Pretty cool. Since then every once in a great while when I have a taste for a well-made cool flick I pop the disc out of the vault, put it on, get into some sort of somnolent, chill, laid-back mood. It’s the film. It has that effect on me. As we speak it’s Sunday evening, a cuppa tea, the heat’s on (it’s officially Autumn in the States, what do you know) and High Art is, appropriately, tonight’s featured presentation.

I really liked this movie back when it was called “Shaun of the Dead”.

Zombieland tries its best at the rom-com-horror hybrid (non)genre but the jokes fall flat and the rest, well, if you’ve screened a zombie – don’t use the zed word! – flick in the last decade you’ll recognise bits and pieces in this one. Juno’s baby daddy calls forth the spirit of the cheetah, wait wrong one, but yes he does run quite a bit in Z-land. Can Bill Murray save the day? Good question, that. Stay away from the theatres and snag this one when it makes the rounds in the resale bins.

More? http://www.oddworldforums.net/blog.php?b=1857

A profoundly disturbing exercise in realism. Not the sunny days, puppies and picnics -type of flick, no. Vignettes of exploitation and graphic ins and outs of how to eke some sort of living in a hard place, yes. Yours truly knows a few Yooks (Ukrainians) who have seen hardships on the old country and do not find it cause for cinema. The lot of them drink, and they drink hard. Their stories are hauntingly familiar: They jump on a plane, land somewhere Stateside, and find themselves smack dab in the middle of menial jobs. Not to be confused with the cutesy lovey Import Eksport, Ulrich Seidl’s Import Export is not for the faint of heart.

The New York Times review: http://movies.nytimes.com/2009/07/31/movies/31import.html

Having neither read the book nor seen any of the other adaptations I’m not sure how to feel about this version of Pelham 123. Stayed awake for all of it, if you think that’s a good thing.

Denzel Washington’s ordinary Joe caught in an extraordinary situation vs John Travolta’s amoral train hijacker in yet another “NYC under siege! Omg!” flick offers nothing new. Travolta’s been the villain in several previous movies and it would seem that Washington either plays the good guy or at the very least, a semi-good guy (see Inside Man, another NYC flick) trying to do the right thing. Substance-wise, Pelham 123 details what every New Yorker (ex, in the case of yours truly) has nightmares of: Train delays. And that’s about it.

James Gandolfini plays a beleaguered post-Rudy who’s neither likable or loathsome, which is what most big city mayors are in the real world. John Turturro’s done better as a weird government agent (Transformers) and pretty much everything else he’s been seen in. Do yourself a favor and don’t screen, rent or buy this snooze-fest.

I remember discovering House on a lazy weekend with nothing else to do: Turned on the tv to a random channel and heard the sarcasm before I saw the man. I’ve heard about this show, where the too smart for you Doctor belittles his team of diagnosticians, it’s set in a teaching hospital, said doctor has a bum leg, so and so. I was drawn to House’s character, his ego, his self-destructiveness. I finished that episode and sat through a few more, and I was hooked. Immediately I sought entire seasons on the internet, caught up as much as bandwidth permitted me, and before you knew it I was current. I also took the advice from a thread on a random forum to not watch the pilot episode until I’d given the show a chance to grow (on me), House being what he is, you’re either ok with him or hate him. Did just that. I finished all the way to Season 3 and then cued the pilot.

I’m glad that’s how it happened. The pilot was saccharine-cute, made you cringe the way your girlfriend uses the baby voice to talk to a stranger’s pet dog or baby in a pram. The pilot only hinted at how strong the series would be, but this hint was drowned by the usual pilot affectations most shows on network tv succumb to. I’m thankful I discovered House in the middle of things, because I know for sure that if I saw things in their proper chronological order (and started with that flawed, maudlin pilot) I would not be the big Laurie fan I am at present.

And history repeats itself in a way. I stayed off the boards regarding Season 6. No teasers, viral marketing, no idea of when – if even, House was gonna come back on. Summer was House-free, with nary a glance on the networks that have reruns. Seasons 1 through 5 of the cranky, pain meds addicted, antisocial doctor was enough. Or was it? Catching up on the news via the antiquated medium of newspaper (yes, people still do that …sometimes) on the day of the series return made me pause a moment. And I decided I’d miss the show. Just for one night. I’m glad I did.

There’s material that’s recycled from previous seasons, one might think. Or there’s really nothing more to the show than the last hurrah of Hugh Laurie until he moves on to his next stateside project. But the season premiere has enough genuinely surprising moments, that if you set aside the hype and how jaded you’ve become – things might get better. The show will prove itself worthy of your time and attention, and you’ll be happy that you stayed.

Many-times stepped-on anemic (sorry, couldn’t resist) teen+angst, but pretty angst latest television series on hundred year old bloodsuckers coming back to find true love in high school, the usual Angst vs Thirst drama, but even drama is too strong a word for it. Bland pseudo-acting… but did I say pretty? Lots of it. Both the vamps and the humans belong to the pretty late teen/early twenties (the actors are really in their thirties) gang. Let’s everyone have a laugh at this sad excuse for primetime. That other vampire series, where Rogue the X-Man is a waitress with a twang (my how far the mighty have fallen) is even worse. Cue your copy of Nosferatu, dust off yon Bela Lugosi favorites, and watch some real* vampires doing what they do best.

*Disclaimer: Vampires are not real.

Where to begin? The two biggest superheroes on Earth battling everyone and their uncle, the comic geek inside jokes (if you’ve been keeping current with either Superman or Batman movie franchises you’d probably get them too), and the reappearance of the Legion of Doom! Woot! Growing up in the late great 80s mean Saturday morning cartoons, and where would I be today without the Super Friends (Supes, Bats, Wonder Woman, et al, good guys) against Lex Luthor leading a group of – you guessed it – super villains in a classic war of Good vs Evil. An enjoyable, well-made DTV (direct to video) that you should queue after the other DC Comics DTVs to complete your Sunday animation marathon.

Additional reading:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legion_of_Doom_%28comics%29
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Friends_%281973_TV_series%29
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Challenge_of_the_Super_Friends

This second Transformers flick continues the big boom a minute frenetic energy from the first, and it only lets up for fractions of a second to showcase caricatures of humans. The robots are cool, very cool, they’re the main reason anyone would even think of seeing this – but at the back of my mind while I’m woah!-ing at the special effects, the kickass robot fights, the very clever “bearing-bots” (hey Ravage, is that you!) hacking into top secret military base – I can’t help but wonder if this movie could’ve been done just a tad better. Less boom more… substance? Or would that be oxymoronic of a summer flick? Highly recommended viewing for kids, teenagers, also great for a date movie (cos you really don’t have to pay attention to the movie, &c.), and anyone who’s enjoyed the first one or people with the ability to park their brain at the door.

Plus, Jetfire as a crazy oldtimer. Ha!! And even crazier Agent Simmons as a decommissioned super secret agent reduced to running a deli in, is that Queens? Excellent! This accompanying poster pretty much sums it up.