Monday 20 April 2009

TV

Ashes to Ashes
2x01 Episode One
Hurrah for the return of Ashes, the underrated Life On Mars sequel. Always a joy to have Gene Hunt on our screens and lots of intriguing mysteries to mull over for the next 8 weeks -- and, hopefully, an intended third (and final) season beyond that.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

The Graham Norton Show
5x06 (16/4/09 edition, uncut repeat)
Robot Graham = Best. Thing. Ever. Gillian Anderson's accent = tad odd, it must be said, but surprisingly British-sounding.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Primeval
3x04 Episode 4
Oft-predictable tosh, again, but rather spectacular tosh this week with a Great Big Dinosaur and chases around an airport and a helicopter and Nigel Marven getting eaten -- it's exactly what Primeval should be like.
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

Articles

Ashes To Ashes returns! by Nick Setchfield
(from SFX)
"SFX is celebrating the return of Ashes To Ashes to BBC One with a week of thug-slapping, Quattro-spinning exclusives." Hurrah! Today, it's a very good interview with co-creator Matthew Graham that covers all sorts of topics related to the series.

BBC iPlayer goes HD, adds higher quality streams, releases iPlayer Desktop out of Labs by Anthony Rose
(from BBC Internet Blog)
Yes, yes, yes yes yes! Seriously considering giving up watching programmes that are also shown on BBC HD on my TV (which is small and non-HD) and just watching them on my Mac via iPlayer Desktop (which is HD!) Lots more info in the article, naturally, including that they've improved the SD stream to bring it closer to TV quality. Yummy.

Simon Pegg talks Trek by Nick Setchfield
(from SFX)
The second part of SFX's interview with the Geekdom God (I mentioned the first half here). Worth a look just for the amusingly subtle dig at Heroes if nothing else.

new review at 100 Films

State of Play (2009)
the real focus of this screen-to-bigger-screen translation is the complex six-hour story of the original series, condensed from 340 minutes to just 127. This three-fold reduction has been well handled, and perhaps their most noteworthy achievement is crafting a film that feels entirely like its own entity without sacrificing anything significant from the primary conspiracy plot.

Read the full review at 100 Films.

There are currently 16 new films in the review pipeline at 100 Films, not to mention two shorts, a film I've previously seen, and an alternate cut. As ever, updates here as and when they're posted.