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53. Being Human season 3.
*pets Mitchell* I must admit I didn't enjoy this season very much. The thing that got me into this show originally was the three housemates being, well, friends. This season felt very like each of them had their own thing going on, only occasionally getting involved in each others business - Mitchell never gets around to properly share his concerns about his own vampire nature's inevitable demands and the whole "werewolf-shaped bullet", George and Nina are worrying about the pregnancy, and Annie is to caught up in trying to have a relationship with Mitchell to actually notice (and willfully ignores) his issues. I'm not saying there wasn't some good bits - I liked McNair and while I'm sorry to see Mitchell go, he at least had a somewhat interesting story arc (even if I find it sort of hypocritical to condemn vampires for their nature, when werewolves are just as violent - they just get to delude themselves that they aren't except when they're all fluffy and toothy, while even the nicest vampire has to cope with the killer instincts basically every second of every day) - but mostly, I sat and wanted someone to knock and/or yell some sense into the whole bunch of them.
54. Star Trek Into Darkness
I liked it. I liked the many call-backs to the original series, I liked the glimpse of Nimoy. I liked Khan - whitewashed or not - especially early on, when he was working with Kirk. I wonder what would happened if they hadn't betrayed him first, if Scotty hadn't stunned Khan. I wonder how it would have gone - would Khan have turned on them as he did, would we have had a replay of the original series plan to let Khan and his people settle a planet - or would he have gone back with Kirk, back to Earth and a trial. I wonder if maybe he would have, because Khan is not a stupid man, and an open trial, a public trial - because when all is said and done, what did he do? Lash out against an organization that had used him as a slave for a year, had kept him working by threatening his crew, an organization (well, an admiral in it, anyway) which were activily trying to start a war with the Klingons (not entirely sure about the Klingon design, btw - they acted very Klingon, but the design felt - off?). Even a less intelligent man than Khan should be able to tell that a public trial (and if Kirk was bringing him back, it would be) wouldn't not go well - for Star Fleet, that is.
55. Hell on Wheels season 1.
It's okay. Gritty without ever reaching the standards of Deadwood. Considering the setting, there's a pretty decent gender and ethnicity diversity. Unfortunately, it never quite - it never quite manages to be interesting. The characters never quite - the closest to a favourite of mine is the Swede (who is from Norway), but even he, well... How to put this: I won't mind watching season 2 if it comes into my orbit, but neither will I go looking for it.
56. Rise of the Guardians
I might be dong something wrong here. I mean, you're not supposed to sit back at the end of a movie and feel sorry for the villain, are you?
57. The Baytown Outlaws
Quite entertaining bit of wannabe-Tarantino. We've got the three Oodie brothers (hicks with a deal with the local sheriff - he gives them the address of some local drug dealers or other such scum, they go to the address and kills everyone there, they get paid by way of crime scene clean-up funds). A woman hires them to kidnap her son back from her deadbeat ex. A couple of details are neglected - such as her son being very non-neurotypical and in a wheelchair (and not, strictly speaking, her son) and such as the ex being a criminal entrepeneur with the connections to send one more ridiculous roadgang after the other after the brothers (starting with a group of prostitutes/biker chicks/hitladies). It's about as far from great art as can be, but it's surprisingly fun, and I'd kind of like a sequel (or a yuletide story?) about their post-jail adventures.
58. XX/XY
Dear Mark Ruffalo: don't look like that. Ever.
59. Magic Mike
Considering how "fun and games and half-naked guys" I seem to remember this getting advertized as, it turned out to be depressingly social realistic. I - didn't quite expect that.
60. Game of Thrones season 3.
To tell the truth, parts of this show bores me - and not solely because so far it hasn't gone beyond the books I've read. It's just - I dunno. I mean, there are things I do like - like in the last episode, the interactions between Tyrion & Sansa and between Arya & the Hound. And the growing friendship between Jaime and Brienne, I like that. But mostly - mostly, they're all so stupid and petty and viscious, these people of the Seven Kingdoms. I dunno.
61. The Secret Diaries of Miss Anne Lister
Well, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman could have gotten a few nice clips from here (though I'm not sure right now which came first, so nevermind). Anyway, it's actually pretty standard period drama fare (apart from the obvious) - woman seeks happiness in all the wrong places before finding herself and getting a happy end. I actually preferred the second half, after Anne has finally given up on trying for a relationship with a married woman - though that's mostly because once she gets a grip, she's a smart, capable woman able to outdo the men at their own games (mind you, in his few scenes I decided I liked Mr. Rawson). Actually, from Anne Lister's wikipedia page, she sounds like a pretty awesome woman - scholar, industrialist, mountain climber. I'd have liked to have seen more of that, really... maybe if it had been a mini-series?
62. Hannibal season 1.
I rather liked this (even despite Mads Mikkelsen's atrocious accent and mumbling). I found the relationship between Will Graham and Hannibal interesting and though I must admit I found the thought of Will and Hannibal being friends even beyond the revelation of Hannibal's tastes appealing (there was a rather lovely, very short fanfic I read, that offered the idea that Will had seen Hannibal and was, well, keeping him to himself - obviously jossed and the series moved in some very different directions, but I would have liked the idea), and the idea of Hannibal the protective monster friend - which doesn't change that I really like how they went with it. Hannibal growing more creepy, more manipulative and the end, with Will in jail, though finally seeing him. I like Hannibal - not as in I like him, but as villains go, he is so very wonderfully without any bits that can justify him, make you forgive him - Hannibal is purest, unflinchingly evil, and that's actually a rare thing to see (probably why you keep wanting him to play nice with Will - the thought of someone so evil is hard to fathom). And I look forward to season two - if, as we've been told, Red Dragon will be season three or four, I suppose season two will be spent unfraiming Will and revealing Hannibal - and I suspect Alana might get a more prominent part. Jack, on the other hand - am I the only one who really doesn't like him? He takes someone he knows is unstable, willfully ignores every time someone points out alarm signals, basically refuses to let Will stop even when Will realizes he's beginning to break and tries to stop and then - when things seem to have gone to Hell in a handbasket - he basically refuses any responsibility. After all, he was taking the advice of a respected psychiatrist... (I really hope Hannibal eats him (and maybe feeds bits to Will?)).
63. Being Human season 4.
I was actually surprised by how much I enjoyed this. I mean, season three was pretty lackluster and besides, by season 4 two of the three original housemates have been killed off (at least George got to be a heroic sacrifice rather than Mitchell's glorified suicide). You'd think that would sink the show, right? Except - except I actually very much enjoyed the new situation, because where the previous seasons had been a gradual sliding apart of the three original friends, this season has three basically strangers - all of them broken, all of them has got nowhere else to go - moving in together, latching on to each other. And they're not friends, not at first - they just have nowhere else to go and noone except each other. And that's interesting, these three people trying to fit together. (Also, Hal is one of the most adorable vampires ever (and I want the story of how he ended up with Leo and Pearl).
64. The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn part 2.
That is one creepy baby. Just saying...
65. Man of Steel
Anybody else notice how in this version Superman is the one to commit genocide? As in, he's the last son of Krypton because he literally kills the other survivors, including the next generation in the genesis chamber? As in, that's pretty dark for Superman, isn't it? Anyway...
I liked that Lois Lane was actually being an intelligent investigative reporter who managed to track down Clark - for that matter, I rather like how Clark isn't that much Clark, how his secret is always thin at best and so very many people know at least a little. I like the various soldiers and their wariness around Clark and yet they end up working with him instead of being stupid (*pets the Colonel*). I like Zod - he's the warrior of Plato's Republic, born and bred and genetically engineered to react as a soldier, a defender - and then he gets faced with a threat that's coming from the ruling class' lack of forethought and then there's the attemptedterrakryptonforming - which, if you're basically born and bred to react as a soldier, attacking and whiping out the enemy makes sense. But then, there's a reason the soldiers were never supposed to rule the Republic. (I found it ironic, how the woman Kryptonian (the result of who knows how many generations of selective breeding and genetic engineering) told Clark (the result of a normal birth, presumably with all the inherant mutations etc.) how evolution would always win, since, yeah).
66. Life After People season 1.
This was occasionelly interesting. Not so much the various ways buildings will eventually come crashing down, but I found the bits involving domestic and captive animals returning to the wild and nature invading and reconquering the human world - I suppose there will eventually be found a new ecobalance. Also, the bits with real world abandoned places are interesting. That said, this is a very pristine sort of post-apocalypse - no piles of dead humans lying about, no signs of war or disaster - which of course means that it's hopelessly unrealistic (unless you believe in some form of all-encompassing rapture or alien abduction)...
*pets Mitchell* I must admit I didn't enjoy this season very much. The thing that got me into this show originally was the three housemates being, well, friends. This season felt very like each of them had their own thing going on, only occasionally getting involved in each others business - Mitchell never gets around to properly share his concerns about his own vampire nature's inevitable demands and the whole "werewolf-shaped bullet", George and Nina are worrying about the pregnancy, and Annie is to caught up in trying to have a relationship with Mitchell to actually notice (and willfully ignores) his issues. I'm not saying there wasn't some good bits - I liked McNair and while I'm sorry to see Mitchell go, he at least had a somewhat interesting story arc (even if I find it sort of hypocritical to condemn vampires for their nature, when werewolves are just as violent - they just get to delude themselves that they aren't except when they're all fluffy and toothy, while even the nicest vampire has to cope with the killer instincts basically every second of every day) - but mostly, I sat and wanted someone to knock and/or yell some sense into the whole bunch of them.
54. Star Trek Into Darkness
I liked it. I liked the many call-backs to the original series, I liked the glimpse of Nimoy. I liked Khan - whitewashed or not - especially early on, when he was working with Kirk. I wonder what would happened if they hadn't betrayed him first, if Scotty hadn't stunned Khan. I wonder how it would have gone - would Khan have turned on them as he did, would we have had a replay of the original series plan to let Khan and his people settle a planet - or would he have gone back with Kirk, back to Earth and a trial. I wonder if maybe he would have, because Khan is not a stupid man, and an open trial, a public trial - because when all is said and done, what did he do? Lash out against an organization that had used him as a slave for a year, had kept him working by threatening his crew, an organization (well, an admiral in it, anyway) which were activily trying to start a war with the Klingons (not entirely sure about the Klingon design, btw - they acted very Klingon, but the design felt - off?). Even a less intelligent man than Khan should be able to tell that a public trial (and if Kirk was bringing him back, it would be) wouldn't not go well - for Star Fleet, that is.
55. Hell on Wheels season 1.
It's okay. Gritty without ever reaching the standards of Deadwood. Considering the setting, there's a pretty decent gender and ethnicity diversity. Unfortunately, it never quite - it never quite manages to be interesting. The characters never quite - the closest to a favourite of mine is the Swede (who is from Norway), but even he, well... How to put this: I won't mind watching season 2 if it comes into my orbit, but neither will I go looking for it.
56. Rise of the Guardians
I might be dong something wrong here. I mean, you're not supposed to sit back at the end of a movie and feel sorry for the villain, are you?
57. The Baytown Outlaws
Quite entertaining bit of wannabe-Tarantino. We've got the three Oodie brothers (hicks with a deal with the local sheriff - he gives them the address of some local drug dealers or other such scum, they go to the address and kills everyone there, they get paid by way of crime scene clean-up funds). A woman hires them to kidnap her son back from her deadbeat ex. A couple of details are neglected - such as her son being very non-neurotypical and in a wheelchair (and not, strictly speaking, her son) and such as the ex being a criminal entrepeneur with the connections to send one more ridiculous roadgang after the other after the brothers (starting with a group of prostitutes/biker chicks/hitladies). It's about as far from great art as can be, but it's surprisingly fun, and I'd kind of like a sequel (or a yuletide story?) about their post-jail adventures.
58. XX/XY
Dear Mark Ruffalo: don't look like that. Ever.
59. Magic Mike
Considering how "fun and games and half-naked guys" I seem to remember this getting advertized as, it turned out to be depressingly social realistic. I - didn't quite expect that.
60. Game of Thrones season 3.
To tell the truth, parts of this show bores me - and not solely because so far it hasn't gone beyond the books I've read. It's just - I dunno. I mean, there are things I do like - like in the last episode, the interactions between Tyrion & Sansa and between Arya & the Hound. And the growing friendship between Jaime and Brienne, I like that. But mostly - mostly, they're all so stupid and petty and viscious, these people of the Seven Kingdoms. I dunno.
61. The Secret Diaries of Miss Anne Lister
Well, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman could have gotten a few nice clips from here (though I'm not sure right now which came first, so nevermind). Anyway, it's actually pretty standard period drama fare (apart from the obvious) - woman seeks happiness in all the wrong places before finding herself and getting a happy end. I actually preferred the second half, after Anne has finally given up on trying for a relationship with a married woman - though that's mostly because once she gets a grip, she's a smart, capable woman able to outdo the men at their own games (mind you, in his few scenes I decided I liked Mr. Rawson). Actually, from Anne Lister's wikipedia page, she sounds like a pretty awesome woman - scholar, industrialist, mountain climber. I'd have liked to have seen more of that, really... maybe if it had been a mini-series?
62. Hannibal season 1.
I rather liked this (even despite Mads Mikkelsen's atrocious accent and mumbling). I found the relationship between Will Graham and Hannibal interesting and though I must admit I found the thought of Will and Hannibal being friends even beyond the revelation of Hannibal's tastes appealing (there was a rather lovely, very short fanfic I read, that offered the idea that Will had seen Hannibal and was, well, keeping him to himself - obviously jossed and the series moved in some very different directions, but I would have liked the idea), and the idea of Hannibal the protective monster friend - which doesn't change that I really like how they went with it. Hannibal growing more creepy, more manipulative and the end, with Will in jail, though finally seeing him. I like Hannibal - not as in I like him, but as villains go, he is so very wonderfully without any bits that can justify him, make you forgive him - Hannibal is purest, unflinchingly evil, and that's actually a rare thing to see (probably why you keep wanting him to play nice with Will - the thought of someone so evil is hard to fathom). And I look forward to season two - if, as we've been told, Red Dragon will be season three or four, I suppose season two will be spent unfraiming Will and revealing Hannibal - and I suspect Alana might get a more prominent part. Jack, on the other hand - am I the only one who really doesn't like him? He takes someone he knows is unstable, willfully ignores every time someone points out alarm signals, basically refuses to let Will stop even when Will realizes he's beginning to break and tries to stop and then - when things seem to have gone to Hell in a handbasket - he basically refuses any responsibility. After all, he was taking the advice of a respected psychiatrist... (I really hope Hannibal eats him (and maybe feeds bits to Will?)).
63. Being Human season 4.
I was actually surprised by how much I enjoyed this. I mean, season three was pretty lackluster and besides, by season 4 two of the three original housemates have been killed off (at least George got to be a heroic sacrifice rather than Mitchell's glorified suicide). You'd think that would sink the show, right? Except - except I actually very much enjoyed the new situation, because where the previous seasons had been a gradual sliding apart of the three original friends, this season has three basically strangers - all of them broken, all of them has got nowhere else to go - moving in together, latching on to each other. And they're not friends, not at first - they just have nowhere else to go and noone except each other. And that's interesting, these three people trying to fit together. (Also, Hal is one of the most adorable vampires ever (and I want the story of how he ended up with Leo and Pearl).
64. The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn part 2.
That is one creepy baby. Just saying...
65. Man of Steel
Anybody else notice how in this version Superman is the one to commit genocide? As in, he's the last son of Krypton because he literally kills the other survivors, including the next generation in the genesis chamber? As in, that's pretty dark for Superman, isn't it? Anyway...
I liked that Lois Lane was actually being an intelligent investigative reporter who managed to track down Clark - for that matter, I rather like how Clark isn't that much Clark, how his secret is always thin at best and so very many people know at least a little. I like the various soldiers and their wariness around Clark and yet they end up working with him instead of being stupid (*pets the Colonel*). I like Zod - he's the warrior of Plato's Republic, born and bred and genetically engineered to react as a soldier, a defender - and then he gets faced with a threat that's coming from the ruling class' lack of forethought and then there's the attempted
66. Life After People season 1.
This was occasionelly interesting. Not so much the various ways buildings will eventually come crashing down, but I found the bits involving domestic and captive animals returning to the wild and nature invading and reconquering the human world - I suppose there will eventually be found a new ecobalance. Also, the bits with real world abandoned places are interesting. That said, this is a very pristine sort of post-apocalypse - no piles of dead humans lying about, no signs of war or disaster - which of course means that it's hopelessly unrealistic (unless you believe in some form of all-encompassing rapture or alien abduction)...
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