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Movies of july
51. Aliens
You know what I'd like to see expanded in the Alien-verse? The marines ask whether this is going to "another bughunt", basically implying that alien creatures are a known hazard - I'd kind of like to see some of the non-xenomorph (or holier-than-thou tall guys who made the xenomorphs) aliens. I'd like to see another bughunt than this one.
52. The Borgias season 1.
It's okay - not spectacular and I find it amusing that, considering the main characters are the Borgias, the depraved villainious ones are all the non-Borgias. Anyway, it's okay.
53. The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes season 1.
This animated series is quite good. I especially like Tony Stark, being exactly as arrogant and brilliant and frankly stupid as Tony ought to be, and I adore the snarky friendship of Hulk and Hawkeye. Other things, though, I dislike, though I mostly blame them on Marvel really being a pretty nasty world - like how Nick Fury seems to have no trouble sacrificing Hawkeye, one of his best agents, to allow Black Widow to infiltrate Hydra (seriously, why wouldn't he trust Hawkeye with that, considering the impact it had on him - no wonder Clint left SHIELD), or like how Hank Pym's attempts to reform villains rather than just catch-and-lock-away is looked down on.
One thing that troubles me about this specific version of the Marvel-verse, though, is the relationship between Hulk and Bruce Banner. I mean, I kind of get why they make Hulk fairly intelligent and let him be the Avenger - otherwise, we'd get nothing but transformation scenes, and anyway, they already have the superheroic scientist slot filled - and this Hulk is fairly interesting and surprisingly intelligent. It's just, that very intelligence, the fact that he is clearly a distinct person from Banner, makes it problematic that Banner is almost perpetually locked away inside him. You can argue that it was Banner's choice - though how much of a choice it was, compared to remaining a fugitive constantly in danger of loosing control to a rampaging Hulk and hunted by the military, well... Still, that's not what troubles me - the Hulk locking his alter ego away, because the Hulk is a monster, after all, a being of pure id, even if this one is a lot more in control - what troubles me is that it never seems to trouble any of the Avengers. In fact, I was watching a season 2 episode, where it is outright stated that Banner gets one day of the month - and the day we see, Hawkeye seems to be quite conveniently tagging along, keeping an eye on him (worried Banner will change his mind and leave?), and in general treat Banner like an - an accessory to the Hulk, I suppose. At one point, Banner and Hawkeye is arguing and Banner claims that he to is an Avenger, only for Hawkeye to shoot back that Banner is as much an Avenger as Hawkeye's bow is - and that? That troubles me. That the Avengers don't seem to care about Banner, about Banner's right to make choices independent of the Hulk (alrigth, so that was Skrull!Cap, but still) - it's an interesting flip from how the Bruce Banner/Hulk dynamic usually works, but it's also troubling, considering the Avengers are supposed to be the good guys. It reminds me of Supernatural, of Jimmy Novak, specifically. Perhaps when I finish watching series two I might have to investigate that dynamic.
54. Fright Night
It had tantalizing hints of interesting things and David Tennant, but the teen hero was sort of dull. Ah well...
55. The Lady Vanishes
I dislike the way the hero was introduced, bullying his way into the heroine's hotel room and bed like that, but the trainboard part of the tale was fine - even if frankly, those two British guys? What was the point of them?
56. Terra Nova season 1.
You know, this show kind of annoyed me - I mean, the premise is fine - over-populated future wants to colonize past-alternate Earth with dinosaurs! Perfectly fine. It just - never seemed as if the colony was treated seriously by the back-home authorities. Why ship luxurious suburbia homes, but not ensure a staffing of people who can, you know, actually do basic stuff like making new supplies of technologic components and doctors who don't start flailing as soon as the super-advanced medical tech has a power failure? Why is the closest to a person with experience in the civil authorities an ex-cop who smuggled himself along? Why isn't the whole place brimming with far more scientists, busily trying to figure out what is safe and what can be cultivated and what can be used? And the truly annoying thing? It would all have made sense if, instead of some random villainious corporation, it had been the back-home authorities that actually wanted to exploit Terra Nova's ressources - use the colony as a cheap way to get good pr while actually having other plans. Then the odd neglect of the colony would have made more sense...
57. Notorious
So far, I find myself enjoying the old Hitchcock movies. Oh, they have their weak spots, but overall? Quite good, actually.
58. Once Upon A Time season 1.
I quite like this - I like how it cheerfully subverts loads of traditional Disney fairytales and how it ties them together in a reasonably believable fairytale world. And I enjoy several of the minor characters, like Ruby. Also, I am convinced the curse is actually a grand scheme of Rumpelstiltskin's, because why else would it conveniently have gotten him to the very world his son is in (though, if I got the right time frame from this, he must have known August was lying from the first minute - he would be far too young to be Bael). Sadly, the series heroes are what I like least - Emma I flat out dislike (though that might be the actress), and as for Henry - seriously, what is wrong with the boy? (In fact, if I was to pick one really bad thing about OUaT, it would be the strong anti-adoption and anti-any-family-that-isn't-biological message underlying everything - which might well fit with the fairytale theme, but is still disturbing).
That said, my two favourite characters in this: Rumpelstiltskin and Regina. Rumpelstiltskin's easy - it's no secret that tricksters and tricky fuckers is a love of mine. Regina - don't get me wrong, yes, she's evil - it's just, she didn't start that way. I find her story fascinating - how her spiral into evil is started by her doing a good deed (saving Snow from a runaway horse) and a hero betraying her (yes, Snow was a kid - she still broke a trust) and a (presumably) good man doing an evil thing without knowing it (the king might not have known she didn't want to marry him - it makes it no less of a forced marriage, it makes him no less guilty of rape) along with a fucked-up homelife. And once she's on that spiral, I fear getting off is hard - going deeper and deeper. I fear she'll need help to be redeemed, except ultimately redemption is something you can only win for yourself, nobody can give it to you. It's a trap. I want to know more of her story (why was her father trapped in Wonderland?), and I want to see her redeemed (I think it's just as well magic seems to come to Storybrook - otherwise the townspeople might wind up lynching). I want to see her find that happy ending she's been chasing her whole life, no different from the heroes, making sacrifices for (and yes, she killed her father, but fridge logic states that Charming (remember, the evil king made him obey by threatening his mother) might well have caused his own mother similar grief, if not by his own hand, by choosing Snow and his happily ever after ( we don't know, but considering the fairytale world is a nasty place, full of child soldiers and other nastiness, it wouldn't surprise me). I want her story. The heroes? Boring. Give me the evil queen. (and the dragon - it was a very nice dragon.)
59. Cabaret
The problem with stories set in pre-WWII Germany, of course, is knowing which way it's going. Sally Bowles is fun, certainly, and Brian - I like Brian - but it seems to me it's a bit unfortunate that the intelluctual white man gets to get away from his little dalliance with the lower classes and homosexuality and 1920's Berlin, no worse for the wear, while Sally and Fritz and the rest stay behind, and we all know what's coming. I wonder if is there any fanfic out there dealing with post-war reunions?
Movies of august
60. Red
Okay, so the kidnapping-romance was a bit squicky early on, but the movie was fun - especially Victoria. Victoria is awesome, and I wish her and Ivan all possible happiness. And Cooper - efficient, awesome and his only realt crime has believing his superiors. I liked Cooper.
61. Sky High
This was fun - it kind of reminded me of Ps238. Admittedly, I found the hero-sidekick binary quite unfortunate and something that really needs to be dealt with. Also, I haven't taken a look, but tell me there is fanfic and is Will/Warren a pairing? Surely they must be. Right?
62. The Incredible Hulk (1982)
I had the first three episodes of this on video as a kid, and I am actually fairly certain that this series was my original introduction to the Marvel-verse. It holds up fairly well - yes, the animation sort of sucks, but the transformation scenes are surprisingly decent, considering (even if Banner's clothes mysteriously reappear when he re-Banners), and also, Betty Ross is kind of awesome in this. For instance, in the final episode when the Hulk hunt is finally on (because people think the Hulk killed Banner - it's a long story, okay?), she is the one to do the impossible and catch him.
63. The Amazing Spider-Man
I quite liked this - quite possibly better than Spider-Man, but then, that might be blamed on me disliking Toby Maguire. Of course, just to be bothersome, my favourite characters was Captain George Stacy and Flash. The captain I blame on liking the trope of the good hunter hunting our hero(es) because he thinks them evil (or in this case a potentially dangerous vigilante (which Spider-man kind of is, you know)), only to eventually learn the truth and becoming an ally (really, movie, did you have to kill him? Captain Stacy alive and in on Parker's secret would have been interesting!). Flash - thing is, Flash comes across as Peter's friend - yeah, he's a jock and a bit of a bully, but he's also the one to try and talk with Peter after his uncle's death. I'd have really liked more Flash Thompson. Sadly, Aunt May - who is supposed to be an awesome character - was sort of not, this time around - sadly.
64. Common Law season 1.
So, what do you do, if you are a leader in the police and wind up with a pair of dysfunctional buddy cops? Why, you send them to couple's therapy. Honestly, the premise had potential, but it doesn't quite work, especially cause only one of the cops seem likable. Travis is clearly the one the show wants you to love - smartass, lovable, never-mind-the-rules - but honestly? He annoys me. He annoys me a lot. Looses office supplies, has apparently slept with every female in the station (which is actually shown to negatively impact his ability to do his bloody job), promises to do a thing and - when it is slightly inconvenient to dog-sit because it's getting in the way of his getting laid - he talks Wes into taking the dog at night, and when Wes' hotel manager tries to give it back, because the hotel is kicking him out because the dog's barking is annoying the other guests, can Travis be bothered to take the dog back and suffer through not getting laid just one night? Oh no... (I like that Travis is the very rare example of a character with foster-care background who apparently didn't get traumatized by the experience, but is shown to have a good relationship with both former foster parents and siblings (admittedly, said siblings tend towards crime, but still - and anyway, Money is one of my favourite minor characters in this show, chop shop owner or not.)
Wes, on the other hand - snarky, ex-lawyer, by-the-book, wins a car chase by calmly thinking through were the fugitive will logically wind up and then driving there rather than mindlessly chasing - I like Wes. And watching the show, it seems as if Wes is consistently the one investing in this so-called friendship - getting the new car that Travis was drooling over, confiding in Travis (and Travis promptly telling the person Wes specifically asked him not to tell), pulling his gun on Travis and potentially ruining his own career to keep Travis from ruining his. At the end of this show, it didn't feel like they were buddies - it feels like one guy is investing in a friendship while the other guy is taking and taking and not giving. And that - to me, that doesn't seem like a healthy dynamic at all (and strangely, their therapist never seems to notice the pattern...) (In case you hadn't noticed, one of my favourite ways to engage with media is to bitch about it - this doesn't mean I didn't enjoy it, that's just how it goes...)
65. Dirch
Okay, so that was basically the epic bromance of Keld and Dirch, complicated by Keld being posthumous for half of it. Not that crazy about it, but then, (and I know this is blasphemy) Dirch Passer was never one of my favourite actors. One thing that's kind of annoying, though, is how nobody looks like who they are supposed to be - I mean, yes, most biopics make allowances for actors not being clones, and this is Danish and thus has a far smaller pool, but still - these people? Their movies are still shown constantly in Denmark. This time, these movies - the golden age, really. Everybody knows how those actors looked. Which means that it's kind of annoying, seeing a character that is obviously supposed to be someone, but he doesn't quite look or sound like anybody, and can they be bothered to plant an exposition line? Nooo. Typical... (Oh, and apparently, he was supposed to be Ove Sprogøe...)
66. Äkta Människor season 1.
This series? Awesome. It's set in a parallel pressent day Sweden where they have developed hubots - androids, basically - who are now used to do all sorts of jobs, from the dull and unpleasant to the merely menial to, well, sex-bots. Except some the hubots seem to have acquired free will, and some humans are maybe a bit more machine than you'd expect and - well, it's good. The series explores its world and it's implications, being wondrous and creepy, and it's good. (And it makes my annoyed with Danish tv, because seriously? Sweden does Äkta Människor and Anno 1790 and what does Denmark do? Re-runs Matador for the umpteenth time (nothing against Matador, but honestly...))
67. Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter
This was okay - I especially liked Henry the vampiric vampire hunter (though I found his feeding habits poorly explored and frankly, nothing we were shown from his one shown victim seemed to warrant the death penalty, problematizing his status as a good vampire), and I liked seeing him non-aging while Lincoln aged. That said, my inner analyst found using vampires as a way-too-obvious metaphor for slave owners perhaps a bit much when they were also literal slave owners...
68. Breaking Dawn part 1.
Don't judge me, I watched it ironically. Also, spent most of it reading superhero comics - seriously, it's a movie with vampires and werewolves and it's just - dull. And the sad thing is, there are actually some interesting characters dotted around this thing - why the hell is all the focus on the teenage idiots?
69. Watership Down
So, the animation wasn't that great, and I would have liked to see more of the rabbit mythology in the movie, but all in all, it was okay. I suspect I would have quite liked it, if I had seen it as a kid (bear in mind, one of my favourite animated movies as a kid was post-apocalyptic and involved giant rats keeping humans as slaves...)
70. Spasite nashi dushi
Russian tv series about a gulag during WWII, with a mysterious murderer on the loose and an idealistic young officer trying to find him, while a saboteur threatens to cause serious damage to the war effort, an American liason officer needs to be kept distracted, some of the prisoners are planning a spectacular escape, and possibly the whole thing is tied to the ghost of a shaman of one of the local native tribes. Perfectly entertaining, actually, with loads of red herrings and some lovely visuals on occasion.
71. Highlander the series season 4.
Oh, this season was fun. Lots and lots of Methos, for one thing - Methos is always a good thing. And Duncan and Joe and bits of Amanda - all good. And Fitz in a very nice flashback. And lots of moments of "oh, that's where that clip came from". Yes, season 4 is definitely a very good season of Highlander
Duncan, on the other hand - I am beginning to have my doubts about him. Oh, his nice and honorable and very, very heroic - it's just, well, his morality seems - not always quite heroic. If a bad guy is mortal, he will stay out of it, even if the case has personal effects - if the bad guy is immortal, he'll butt in in matters that doesn't concern him. Serial killing immortals he'll let go because they either look like children (mind you, I find Kenny interesting and suspect him of having a spectacularly fucked up life story) or is a woman he slept with once, while the autistic immortal gets sentenced to a quick beheading for being incenvient. And let's not even talk about the guy he left to die from thirst and exposure for decades on a deserted island. At one point, he tells Methos that he is lucky he is a man of honor - except, honestly? I'm not that keen on honor - it seems to me that honor is mostly about following a set of rules, and those rules are not necessarily what I would call moral, and following them doesn't necessarily make you good. I'd honestly choose a moral hero over an honorable one any day of the week, but then Duncan is a child of his time - it's amazing how much he has changed, really, and how the things that has changed in him are appropriate to modern day culture ;-)
Also, the season finale was fairly decent, even if the Watchers certainly did not exactly make a good case for themselves. I mean, it's ironic that they put Joe on trial for breaking his oath to tell Duncan, when not telling Duncan, not revealing the Watchers and correcting the misunderstandings might actually well have led Duncan down the same path as Jacob Galati - and I felt sorry for Jacob. His wife murdered in front of him, he chases the murderers and comes across a conspiracy out to commit genocide against his people and heroically takes the fight to them. In another show he would have been the hero, not just the Quickening of the week. But the thing is, what did the Watchers ever expect would happen, the day an Immortal found out? Where they truly so stupid as to never consider a contingency plan? For that matter, their presiouc 'observe and never interfere'? They obviously don't recruit many physicists or they know that even observing affects things, be it ever so secret. Jacob's true crime was not having a Joe step in and talk to him, was coming to the logical conclusions and taking action - and also, you'd think the Watchers would also realise that older Immortals will be a hell of lot more likely to take matters into their own hands, since calling the police and letting the authorities handle your problems is a pretty new thing, historically. Throughout most of history, if you wanted justice, you had to go get it yourself. Seriously, the Watchers are idiots...
Also, ironic about the trial of Joe, is that while telling Duncan is forgivable and can be defended as the right choice, then he is actually guilty of betraying the Watchers. After all, he never told them about Methos. Surely an infiltration is even more of a betrayal.
Anyway, I'm rambling. (And I am still convinced the Immortals will be revealed to the world sometime early 21st century, probably by a baby Immortal hiding from a headhunter in a police station, because that's what I'd do if a crazy guy with a sword wanted to cut my head off, Game or no Game).
72. Hodejegerne
Honestly? Yawn.
51. Aliens
You know what I'd like to see expanded in the Alien-verse? The marines ask whether this is going to "another bughunt", basically implying that alien creatures are a known hazard - I'd kind of like to see some of the non-xenomorph (or holier-than-thou tall guys who made the xenomorphs) aliens. I'd like to see another bughunt than this one.
52. The Borgias season 1.
It's okay - not spectacular and I find it amusing that, considering the main characters are the Borgias, the depraved villainious ones are all the non-Borgias. Anyway, it's okay.
53. The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes season 1.
This animated series is quite good. I especially like Tony Stark, being exactly as arrogant and brilliant and frankly stupid as Tony ought to be, and I adore the snarky friendship of Hulk and Hawkeye. Other things, though, I dislike, though I mostly blame them on Marvel really being a pretty nasty world - like how Nick Fury seems to have no trouble sacrificing Hawkeye, one of his best agents, to allow Black Widow to infiltrate Hydra (seriously, why wouldn't he trust Hawkeye with that, considering the impact it had on him - no wonder Clint left SHIELD), or like how Hank Pym's attempts to reform villains rather than just catch-and-lock-away is looked down on.
One thing that troubles me about this specific version of the Marvel-verse, though, is the relationship between Hulk and Bruce Banner. I mean, I kind of get why they make Hulk fairly intelligent and let him be the Avenger - otherwise, we'd get nothing but transformation scenes, and anyway, they already have the superheroic scientist slot filled - and this Hulk is fairly interesting and surprisingly intelligent. It's just, that very intelligence, the fact that he is clearly a distinct person from Banner, makes it problematic that Banner is almost perpetually locked away inside him. You can argue that it was Banner's choice - though how much of a choice it was, compared to remaining a fugitive constantly in danger of loosing control to a rampaging Hulk and hunted by the military, well... Still, that's not what troubles me - the Hulk locking his alter ego away, because the Hulk is a monster, after all, a being of pure id, even if this one is a lot more in control - what troubles me is that it never seems to trouble any of the Avengers. In fact, I was watching a season 2 episode, where it is outright stated that Banner gets one day of the month - and the day we see, Hawkeye seems to be quite conveniently tagging along, keeping an eye on him (worried Banner will change his mind and leave?), and in general treat Banner like an - an accessory to the Hulk, I suppose. At one point, Banner and Hawkeye is arguing and Banner claims that he to is an Avenger, only for Hawkeye to shoot back that Banner is as much an Avenger as Hawkeye's bow is - and that? That troubles me. That the Avengers don't seem to care about Banner, about Banner's right to make choices independent of the Hulk (alrigth, so that was Skrull!Cap, but still) - it's an interesting flip from how the Bruce Banner/Hulk dynamic usually works, but it's also troubling, considering the Avengers are supposed to be the good guys. It reminds me of Supernatural, of Jimmy Novak, specifically. Perhaps when I finish watching series two I might have to investigate that dynamic.
54. Fright Night
It had tantalizing hints of interesting things and David Tennant, but the teen hero was sort of dull. Ah well...
55. The Lady Vanishes
I dislike the way the hero was introduced, bullying his way into the heroine's hotel room and bed like that, but the trainboard part of the tale was fine - even if frankly, those two British guys? What was the point of them?
56. Terra Nova season 1.
You know, this show kind of annoyed me - I mean, the premise is fine - over-populated future wants to colonize past-alternate Earth with dinosaurs! Perfectly fine. It just - never seemed as if the colony was treated seriously by the back-home authorities. Why ship luxurious suburbia homes, but not ensure a staffing of people who can, you know, actually do basic stuff like making new supplies of technologic components and doctors who don't start flailing as soon as the super-advanced medical tech has a power failure? Why is the closest to a person with experience in the civil authorities an ex-cop who smuggled himself along? Why isn't the whole place brimming with far more scientists, busily trying to figure out what is safe and what can be cultivated and what can be used? And the truly annoying thing? It would all have made sense if, instead of some random villainious corporation, it had been the back-home authorities that actually wanted to exploit Terra Nova's ressources - use the colony as a cheap way to get good pr while actually having other plans. Then the odd neglect of the colony would have made more sense...
57. Notorious
So far, I find myself enjoying the old Hitchcock movies. Oh, they have their weak spots, but overall? Quite good, actually.
58. Once Upon A Time season 1.
I quite like this - I like how it cheerfully subverts loads of traditional Disney fairytales and how it ties them together in a reasonably believable fairytale world. And I enjoy several of the minor characters, like Ruby. Also, I am convinced the curse is actually a grand scheme of Rumpelstiltskin's, because why else would it conveniently have gotten him to the very world his son is in (though, if I got the right time frame from this, he must have known August was lying from the first minute - he would be far too young to be Bael). Sadly, the series heroes are what I like least - Emma I flat out dislike (though that might be the actress), and as for Henry - seriously, what is wrong with the boy? (In fact, if I was to pick one really bad thing about OUaT, it would be the strong anti-adoption and anti-any-family-that-isn't-biological message underlying everything - which might well fit with the fairytale theme, but is still disturbing).
That said, my two favourite characters in this: Rumpelstiltskin and Regina. Rumpelstiltskin's easy - it's no secret that tricksters and tricky fuckers is a love of mine. Regina - don't get me wrong, yes, she's evil - it's just, she didn't start that way. I find her story fascinating - how her spiral into evil is started by her doing a good deed (saving Snow from a runaway horse) and a hero betraying her (yes, Snow was a kid - she still broke a trust) and a (presumably) good man doing an evil thing without knowing it (the king might not have known she didn't want to marry him - it makes it no less of a forced marriage, it makes him no less guilty of rape) along with a fucked-up homelife. And once she's on that spiral, I fear getting off is hard - going deeper and deeper. I fear she'll need help to be redeemed, except ultimately redemption is something you can only win for yourself, nobody can give it to you. It's a trap. I want to know more of her story (why was her father trapped in Wonderland?), and I want to see her redeemed (I think it's just as well magic seems to come to Storybrook - otherwise the townspeople might wind up lynching). I want to see her find that happy ending she's been chasing her whole life, no different from the heroes, making sacrifices for (and yes, she killed her father, but fridge logic states that Charming (remember, the evil king made him obey by threatening his mother) might well have caused his own mother similar grief, if not by his own hand, by choosing Snow and his happily ever after ( we don't know, but considering the fairytale world is a nasty place, full of child soldiers and other nastiness, it wouldn't surprise me). I want her story. The heroes? Boring. Give me the evil queen. (and the dragon - it was a very nice dragon.)
59. Cabaret
The problem with stories set in pre-WWII Germany, of course, is knowing which way it's going. Sally Bowles is fun, certainly, and Brian - I like Brian - but it seems to me it's a bit unfortunate that the intelluctual white man gets to get away from his little dalliance with the lower classes and homosexuality and 1920's Berlin, no worse for the wear, while Sally and Fritz and the rest stay behind, and we all know what's coming. I wonder if is there any fanfic out there dealing with post-war reunions?
Movies of august
60. Red
Okay, so the kidnapping-romance was a bit squicky early on, but the movie was fun - especially Victoria. Victoria is awesome, and I wish her and Ivan all possible happiness. And Cooper - efficient, awesome and his only realt crime has believing his superiors. I liked Cooper.
61. Sky High
This was fun - it kind of reminded me of Ps238. Admittedly, I found the hero-sidekick binary quite unfortunate and something that really needs to be dealt with. Also, I haven't taken a look, but tell me there is fanfic and is Will/Warren a pairing? Surely they must be. Right?
62. The Incredible Hulk (1982)
I had the first three episodes of this on video as a kid, and I am actually fairly certain that this series was my original introduction to the Marvel-verse. It holds up fairly well - yes, the animation sort of sucks, but the transformation scenes are surprisingly decent, considering (even if Banner's clothes mysteriously reappear when he re-Banners), and also, Betty Ross is kind of awesome in this. For instance, in the final episode when the Hulk hunt is finally on (because people think the Hulk killed Banner - it's a long story, okay?), she is the one to do the impossible and catch him.
63. The Amazing Spider-Man
I quite liked this - quite possibly better than Spider-Man, but then, that might be blamed on me disliking Toby Maguire. Of course, just to be bothersome, my favourite characters was Captain George Stacy and Flash. The captain I blame on liking the trope of the good hunter hunting our hero(es) because he thinks them evil (or in this case a potentially dangerous vigilante (which Spider-man kind of is, you know)), only to eventually learn the truth and becoming an ally (really, movie, did you have to kill him? Captain Stacy alive and in on Parker's secret would have been interesting!). Flash - thing is, Flash comes across as Peter's friend - yeah, he's a jock and a bit of a bully, but he's also the one to try and talk with Peter after his uncle's death. I'd have really liked more Flash Thompson. Sadly, Aunt May - who is supposed to be an awesome character - was sort of not, this time around - sadly.
64. Common Law season 1.
So, what do you do, if you are a leader in the police and wind up with a pair of dysfunctional buddy cops? Why, you send them to couple's therapy. Honestly, the premise had potential, but it doesn't quite work, especially cause only one of the cops seem likable. Travis is clearly the one the show wants you to love - smartass, lovable, never-mind-the-rules - but honestly? He annoys me. He annoys me a lot. Looses office supplies, has apparently slept with every female in the station (which is actually shown to negatively impact his ability to do his bloody job), promises to do a thing and - when it is slightly inconvenient to dog-sit because it's getting in the way of his getting laid - he talks Wes into taking the dog at night, and when Wes' hotel manager tries to give it back, because the hotel is kicking him out because the dog's barking is annoying the other guests, can Travis be bothered to take the dog back and suffer through not getting laid just one night? Oh no... (I like that Travis is the very rare example of a character with foster-care background who apparently didn't get traumatized by the experience, but is shown to have a good relationship with both former foster parents and siblings (admittedly, said siblings tend towards crime, but still - and anyway, Money is one of my favourite minor characters in this show, chop shop owner or not.)
Wes, on the other hand - snarky, ex-lawyer, by-the-book, wins a car chase by calmly thinking through were the fugitive will logically wind up and then driving there rather than mindlessly chasing - I like Wes. And watching the show, it seems as if Wes is consistently the one investing in this so-called friendship - getting the new car that Travis was drooling over, confiding in Travis (and Travis promptly telling the person Wes specifically asked him not to tell), pulling his gun on Travis and potentially ruining his own career to keep Travis from ruining his. At the end of this show, it didn't feel like they were buddies - it feels like one guy is investing in a friendship while the other guy is taking and taking and not giving. And that - to me, that doesn't seem like a healthy dynamic at all (and strangely, their therapist never seems to notice the pattern...) (In case you hadn't noticed, one of my favourite ways to engage with media is to bitch about it - this doesn't mean I didn't enjoy it, that's just how it goes...)
65. Dirch
Okay, so that was basically the epic bromance of Keld and Dirch, complicated by Keld being posthumous for half of it. Not that crazy about it, but then, (and I know this is blasphemy) Dirch Passer was never one of my favourite actors. One thing that's kind of annoying, though, is how nobody looks like who they are supposed to be - I mean, yes, most biopics make allowances for actors not being clones, and this is Danish and thus has a far smaller pool, but still - these people? Their movies are still shown constantly in Denmark. This time, these movies - the golden age, really. Everybody knows how those actors looked. Which means that it's kind of annoying, seeing a character that is obviously supposed to be someone, but he doesn't quite look or sound like anybody, and can they be bothered to plant an exposition line? Nooo. Typical... (Oh, and apparently, he was supposed to be Ove Sprogøe...)
66. Äkta Människor season 1.
This series? Awesome. It's set in a parallel pressent day Sweden where they have developed hubots - androids, basically - who are now used to do all sorts of jobs, from the dull and unpleasant to the merely menial to, well, sex-bots. Except some the hubots seem to have acquired free will, and some humans are maybe a bit more machine than you'd expect and - well, it's good. The series explores its world and it's implications, being wondrous and creepy, and it's good. (And it makes my annoyed with Danish tv, because seriously? Sweden does Äkta Människor and Anno 1790 and what does Denmark do? Re-runs Matador for the umpteenth time (nothing against Matador, but honestly...))
67. Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter
This was okay - I especially liked Henry the vampiric vampire hunter (though I found his feeding habits poorly explored and frankly, nothing we were shown from his one shown victim seemed to warrant the death penalty, problematizing his status as a good vampire), and I liked seeing him non-aging while Lincoln aged. That said, my inner analyst found using vampires as a way-too-obvious metaphor for slave owners perhaps a bit much when they were also literal slave owners...
68. Breaking Dawn part 1.
Don't judge me, I watched it ironically. Also, spent most of it reading superhero comics - seriously, it's a movie with vampires and werewolves and it's just - dull. And the sad thing is, there are actually some interesting characters dotted around this thing - why the hell is all the focus on the teenage idiots?
69. Watership Down
So, the animation wasn't that great, and I would have liked to see more of the rabbit mythology in the movie, but all in all, it was okay. I suspect I would have quite liked it, if I had seen it as a kid (bear in mind, one of my favourite animated movies as a kid was post-apocalyptic and involved giant rats keeping humans as slaves...)
70. Spasite nashi dushi
Russian tv series about a gulag during WWII, with a mysterious murderer on the loose and an idealistic young officer trying to find him, while a saboteur threatens to cause serious damage to the war effort, an American liason officer needs to be kept distracted, some of the prisoners are planning a spectacular escape, and possibly the whole thing is tied to the ghost of a shaman of one of the local native tribes. Perfectly entertaining, actually, with loads of red herrings and some lovely visuals on occasion.
71. Highlander the series season 4.
Oh, this season was fun. Lots and lots of Methos, for one thing - Methos is always a good thing. And Duncan and Joe and bits of Amanda - all good. And Fitz in a very nice flashback. And lots of moments of "oh, that's where that clip came from". Yes, season 4 is definitely a very good season of Highlander
Duncan, on the other hand - I am beginning to have my doubts about him. Oh, his nice and honorable and very, very heroic - it's just, well, his morality seems - not always quite heroic. If a bad guy is mortal, he will stay out of it, even if the case has personal effects - if the bad guy is immortal, he'll butt in in matters that doesn't concern him. Serial killing immortals he'll let go because they either look like children (mind you, I find Kenny interesting and suspect him of having a spectacularly fucked up life story) or is a woman he slept with once, while the autistic immortal gets sentenced to a quick beheading for being incenvient. And let's not even talk about the guy he left to die from thirst and exposure for decades on a deserted island. At one point, he tells Methos that he is lucky he is a man of honor - except, honestly? I'm not that keen on honor - it seems to me that honor is mostly about following a set of rules, and those rules are not necessarily what I would call moral, and following them doesn't necessarily make you good. I'd honestly choose a moral hero over an honorable one any day of the week, but then Duncan is a child of his time - it's amazing how much he has changed, really, and how the things that has changed in him are appropriate to modern day culture ;-)
Also, the season finale was fairly decent, even if the Watchers certainly did not exactly make a good case for themselves. I mean, it's ironic that they put Joe on trial for breaking his oath to tell Duncan, when not telling Duncan, not revealing the Watchers and correcting the misunderstandings might actually well have led Duncan down the same path as Jacob Galati - and I felt sorry for Jacob. His wife murdered in front of him, he chases the murderers and comes across a conspiracy out to commit genocide against his people and heroically takes the fight to them. In another show he would have been the hero, not just the Quickening of the week. But the thing is, what did the Watchers ever expect would happen, the day an Immortal found out? Where they truly so stupid as to never consider a contingency plan? For that matter, their presiouc 'observe and never interfere'? They obviously don't recruit many physicists or they know that even observing affects things, be it ever so secret. Jacob's true crime was not having a Joe step in and talk to him, was coming to the logical conclusions and taking action - and also, you'd think the Watchers would also realise that older Immortals will be a hell of lot more likely to take matters into their own hands, since calling the police and letting the authorities handle your problems is a pretty new thing, historically. Throughout most of history, if you wanted justice, you had to go get it yourself. Seriously, the Watchers are idiots...
Also, ironic about the trial of Joe, is that while telling Duncan is forgivable and can be defended as the right choice, then he is actually guilty of betraying the Watchers. After all, he never told them about Methos. Surely an infiltration is even more of a betrayal.
Anyway, I'm rambling. (And I am still convinced the Immortals will be revealed to the world sometime early 21st century, probably by a baby Immortal hiding from a headhunter in a police station, because that's what I'd do if a crazy guy with a sword wanted to cut my head off, Game or no Game).
72. Hodejegerne
Honestly? Yawn.
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