Sunday 10 June 2012

TV

Have I Got News For You
43x08 (1/6/12 edition; extended repeat)
aka The Alastair Campbell One. Brilliant.
[Watch the extended version (again) on iPlayer.]

Mad Men
5x11 The Other Woman
Wow. Stunning episode in so many ways. One of my favourite bits was a perfectly-executed twist, and it wasn't even at the end of the episode! And that final scene between Don and Peggy...
All those saying this season hasn't been up to standard are so, so wrong.

Romanzo Criminale
1x05 Episode 5
Might be the best episode yet -- things move apace, and surprisingly in places, and a big cliffhanger ending too.

Comics

Extermination #1 by Simon Spurrier & Jeffrey Edwards

Created by BOOM! Studios' Editor-in-Chief Matt Gagnon but for whatever reason handed to Brit Spurrier to actually write, Extermination (which I keep calling Extinction for some reason) is set in a post-alien-invasion world where superheroes and supervillains must team up to fight the invaders, plus flashbacks to the pre-destroyed world and their regular superhero-y lives.

It's all good fun, actually. The characters are entertainingly written, with a fun and banter-some relationship. Spurrier gets to play with superhero cliches (the good guy, Nox, is Batman in all but name and bat-ears) and sci-fi ones too, like using silly made-up words but having one character question why they're using such a silly made up word. Edwards' art is more than up to Spurrier's writing, detailing both typical superhero action and the post-apocalyptic alien-stuff just as well, with a slight cartoony edge that suits the tone.

I don't read enough indy-ish comics to know if this is the kind of thing that will break out and be something people will recommend in years to come (a la Hellboy or The Walking Dead, say). Plus it has to keep this level of quality up, of course. But I hope it does because I really enjoyed it. Glad I followed Bleeding Cool's recommendation (in fact, I liked it even more than they did).

this week on 100 Films

Two new reviews were posted to 100 Films in a Year this week, and they were...

The A-Team: Explosive Extended Edition (2010)
If you’ve seen the trailer you know there’s a bit where they fall out of a plane in a tank. Then they battle with fighter jets from this free-falling tank... As I see it, your reaction to that tank bit in the trailer will dictate your reaction to the whole film: if you thought it looked bloody stupid, extrapolate; if you thought it looked frickin’ cool, extrapolate; if you thought, like me, that it looked enjoyably far-fetched, extrapolate.
Read more on my new blog or my classic blog.

The Book of Eli (2010)
Eli starts off with the potential for an arty 5; slips slightly to a solid 4 when the standard post-apocalyptic trope of a gang fighting for local power comes in to play; unsteadies that 4 with an increasingly atonal second half; and quite frankly borders a 1 with its sickening ending.
Read more on my new blog or my classic blog.

More next Sunday.