Sunday 8 April 2012

TV

Just a Minute [2012]
1x08 Episode 8
A particularly anarchic edition, for some reason.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Once Upon a Time
1x01 Pilot
The big new US fantasy series (that may be a rip-off of Fables (I haven't read that so can't say with certainty, but the concept is certainly similar)) finally reaches our shores. It's quite good. The fantasy/fairytale world is a bit too stock American-vision-of-European-folklore, rendered with all the usual made-for-US-TV cheap CGI and whatnot, but it could be worse. As a whole episode, there's an awful lot of setup and exposition here. There's promise though, so we'll see.
[Watch it (again) on Demand 5.]

Room 101: Extra Storage
12x03 Episode 3
Being the extended episode they skipped before, including a whole extra round.

Films

Repo Chick (2009)
[#35 in 100 Films in a Year 2012]

I was going to follow this with The League of Gentlemen's Apocalypse, which was on 15 minutes later on Film4, but then BBC Two allowed the golf to overrun by 20 minutes and my plans were scuppered. Damn you sport!

And if I'd known it would turn up on iPlayer... Grr.

[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Comics

Aquaman #7 by Geoff Johns & Ivan Reis
If there weren't such lengthy fights there'd be more room for story. Maybe that's part of the aim. Quite good fights, mind, especially the later ones, but maybe losing a page from each to make room for two or three extra pages of plot would be nice.

Justice League #7 by Geoff Johns & Gene Ha
After the six-part "origins of the Justice League" opening story, we now jump forward five years to the present day of the DCU to find out the current status quo. Which is largely what this is about -- establishing things. At least it has the courtesy to call itself a prologue.
Plus, the introduction of back-up strip Shazam!, written by Johns and drawn by Gary Frank, which is even more setup-y than the main story. It does make the whole issue feel rather half-hearted. I'm sure lots of work must go into it, as ever, but telling two stories that are less stories and more setup for stories is kinda disappointing.

this week on 100 Films

1 new review was posted to 100 Films in a Year this week. It's Easter, so here's a film about Jesus...

Nativity! (2009)
it’s kind of a daft plot, really. It’s played relatively straight and realist, but it goes off that beaten track at times. Which I suppose is fine — why not, after all? No one promised grim social realism — it’s a Christmas family film, with some moral messages and a sort of romance and sweet kids and a cute dog. And regular readers know how much I love a cute dog.
Read more on my new blog or my classic blog.

More next Sunday.