Archive for December, 2009

TV Review part 2

Tuesday, December 1st, 2009

Mercy – NBC’s take on the current nurse’s point of view type medical show, and it turns out to be quite boring. Cases are boring, the characters too. Definitely dropping this one after one episode.

Trauma – Another medical drama from NBC, following The Third Watch’s footsteps. Don’t see that much difference. Isn’t that special anyway, also dropping this one.

Three Rivers – Well, what do you know, ANOTHER medical drama. This one from CBS, following the 3 points concerning organ transplantation (donor, patient, doctor). Sounds good, but like most CBS shows, it chooses style over substance. The plot is predictable too, with the cliche topics and choppy dialogue trying to connect the special effects into something quite boring. This one is DOA too (dried on arrival, title pun!).

The Forgotten – ABC tries another procedural in the form of a group of volunteers trying to find missing persons (a highly unlikely synopsis). With no authority, this group tries to be creative in ways of finding what they want, but in the end, it’s still not that interesting.

Community – Half hour comedy starring Chevy Chase in a co-starring capacity and with Joel McHale headlining. You’d think it would be outrageously funny, but it’s just mildly entertaining. In essence, it’s still a letdown. As this group of adult try to finish their GED in community college, the stuff that happens there isn’t particularly interesting.

Modern Family – Another half hour comedy, trying to simulate a reality show style(including shaking camera etc), quickly paced, and stories are sometimes a bit contrived. Only slightly entertaining. First Ed O’Neill role (normal father figure) that doesn’t irritate the hell out of me.

V (2009) – A reboot of the old series, revealing the whole concept in its pilot episode already. With aliens among us and the arrival of several spaceships, they’re obviously up to no good (no ambiguity built in this series). While seemingly serialised, it still follows simple episodic story telling techniques, clearly never reaching top quality television here (unlike it’s ABC siblings Lost and FlashForward). From this batch though, it’s the best entry.

Review: Capitalism: A Love Story

Tuesday, December 1st, 2009

Another fine Michael Moore docu, revealing some interesting facts. It’s a documentary that informs you, enrages you, but also inspires and shows hope for the future. It covers a wide spectrum, so it never gets boring as it clocks in 2 hours.7½.

Review: The Twilight Saga: New Moon

Tuesday, December 1st, 2009

Adding a superlative pre-title seemed to help this fortune, making young girls flock to the movie theater on the first day, breaking records. But from an objective point of view, I can tell you, a saga it is not. Let’s say the nightly scuffles of the street cats outside my apartment is more of a saga then this vampire/werewolf love triangle. With both principal actors doing their usual breath-stuttering acting (Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson), trying to emote their love struggle, it’s repetitive and isn’t really working at all.
The story is also just too simple to even explain here, and with boredom setting in fast, they only use the stretching strategy to fill the time. Avoid at all cost if you want to see something more meaningful (even if it’s wreaking havoc at the box office).4-.