Wednesday 1 April 2009

TV

The Apprentice
5x02 (1/4/09 edition)
Not entirely sure how or why I found myself watching this (for the first time ever, I should add). It's just as rubbish as I always thought it looked, to be honest, so I shan't be bothering again
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Ashes to Ashes Series 2 Trailer
The first series of Ashes suffered in some quarters by comparisons to its parent show, Life on Mars. Is it as good as Mars? Probably not. But it's certainly a well-above-average drama and I'm very glad to see it back, and this specially-shot trailer was certainly a lot of fun. Hopefully they can make it as far as the proposed third year, and then I suspect it will be time to leave the LoM universe alone. But you never know...

Doctor Who: Planet of the Dead Trailer
With so little new Who this year its good to see that this Easter special -- our only televisual dose until Christmas -- looks so promising. My initial thoughts are that it looks a bit like Voyage of the Damned crossed with Pitch Black -- two things I love, incidentally, so in my opinion this is a Good Thing.
It's also entertained me that the trailer confirmed a Saturday 11th broadcast date. From some speculation somewhere a whole raft of people had got it into their heads that Sunday 12th was the confirmed date and have been bandying this around as fact. It always amuses me when something like that happens... and yet, these people never learn.

I've Never Seen Star Wars
1x03 Rory McGrath
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

The Wire
1x02 The Detail
Already becoming more engrossing, though yet to grab me as much as some other one-long-story series do. Let's put it this way: I think I may be able to see why some fans prefer to wait and watch it all in one go.

Articles

Number 2 Has Got Number 6 All Bottled Up, In New Prisoner Poster by Charlie Jane Anders
(from io9)
A fairly cool poster for what will be an interesting remake. The presence of Ian McKellen in the cast certainly suggests quality. Also included, a poster for the new Day of the Triffids. Dreadful poster, wonderful cast.


Review of State of Play by Shonette Laffy
(from Total Film)
While they come out on the positive side, it still doesn't sound great to me. But we'll see.

Simon Pegg Exclusive by Nick Setchfield
(from SFX)
A good interview with "alpha geek" Simon Pegg, covering Tintin, working with Spielberg, and various other future projects. Perhaps best of all, it confirms that Thomson and Thompson will look alike in the Tintin films, despite being played by the physically-very-different Pegg and Frost.
Apparently this interview is part one of two (or more), so eyes peeled for the rest.

And for a list of lists (related to films), have a look here.

Total Film lists

I'm posting this separately from today's main articles post because, quite simply, there are rather a lot of them. All can be found at Total Film's website (where there are many, many more) and all written by Sam Ashurst.

10 Unbelievable Future Movie Posters
Total Film's attempt at an April Fools joke. Unfortunately very few are believable enough to pull that off; plus the sheer volume of posters included and the facetious tone at the start of the article give the game away immediately. And I swear I've seen that Avatar poster as a real one on numerous sites... which is no guarantee of authenticity, of course.
Among the others, the New Moon one is believably dull, the Riddler Bat-sequel one is believably 'til you reach the pathetically-handled title, and the Harley Quinn Bat one is easily the best. I don't imagine they'll actually use Quinn in the next Bat film, but if they did I can well imagine she'd look like that.

The 10 Worst Sequels Of The '80s
Only 10? They must've been spoilt for choice.

The 16 Endings They Didn’t Want You To See
A mix of ones that aren't missed (Brazil, Blade Runner, y) and some that are superior (I Am Legend). Be warned, there are some serious spoilers in this list.

The 17 Worst Movie Posters Of 2009
Some of these aren't actually all that bad. And some really, really are. My favourite is the one for Fired Up, which is literally just a big "F U".