The Leverage

Leverage is back on TV, and I love it.

It's ridicuolus, it's cheesy and it's harmless fun. For the same reasons I love Burn Notice, I love switching off my brain  and letting Leverage wash over me.

You know that nothing too bad is ever going to happen, and you know the bad guys are going to get their just desserts. Most importantly, the reveal of how they're going to pull the job off is alwas entertaining.

Plus, I've got a bit of a crush on Parker, cos she's kooky.

Feeling Husk

When you need a mediocre generic horror movie, and you can't find "Jeepers Creepers" anywhere. Check out Husk. Low on budget, low on scares, but it's watchable if you'rea horror fan.

Which, I am. Naturally.

Retinkering

In case you were wondering, I thought "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy" was just as good on the second watch. So, you know, go get it on DVD.

Appetite for Destruction

"The Hunger Games" is released on the 23rd of March and everyone is banging on about how good the books are. 


I do hate to read a book AFTER I've seen it already committed to screen (Game of Thrones being the obvious exception), so I guess I'll need to make sure I've read it by this time next month.


Now to do the 3,000 others things I've got to do first...

A Grimm Outlook

Just watched the first episode of Grimm. Think the producers of Supernatural should sue.


That said, I'll watch the next one.

Three Ami(Ran)gos

Watched Rango the other night. After a slow start, i really ended up getting into it, not least because of some great voice acting by Johnny Depp and Bill Nighy.


Not really sure who it was aimed at though as the animation really jarred with me (at first) and a lot of the jokes (and the plot) probably wouldn't make sense to young children. But maybe I'm not being fair to them.


The really interesting thing is that the thrust of the plot is pretty much the same as the Three Amigos (one of  my favourite comedies ever), which has already been copied by Galaxy Quest (which is also brilliant).


Once the story was underway and it became clear that was where they were going with it, I actually got more involved. Maybe I'm just a sucker for a underdog-pretends-to-be-hero-gets-found-out-leaves-in-shame-returns-to-save-the-day story.

My funny valentine

This year for Valentine's day, I got my better half "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy", because, as I've mentioned before, it's excellent. And she hasn't seen it.


She got me "Drive", which I haven't seen and was gutted I missed it at the cinema.


Who says romance is dead? 

Keel Hauling

Treasure Island was yet another new show out on Sky1. Admittedly this was only a two parter, but this had Eddie Izzard in it and Philip Glenister, so at the outset things were looking good.


And it was a lot of fun. It was clearly family-fare, but was superior to Neverland, in so much as there was only really one kid in it and he wasn't that annoying. Izzard made for a charismatic Long John Silver, and Donald Sutherland and Elijah Wood gave good support in effectively cameo roles. Glenister was (of course) great, as was Daniel Mays, who seems to be in everything now. Good luck to him, especially as he's already done a great turn in the final series of Ashes to Ashes.   


Despite the stellar cast, the stand out performance was Rupert Penry-Jones as the douchy Squire Trelawney (really struggled for an adjective there, and villainous seemed a bit too much). You really grew to hate the character, and when he meets his end, it's one of the most uncomfortable looking deaths I've seen in a while (not in a gory way, but if you've seen it you'll know what I mean).


Once again, good work from Sky.


I really feel like I'm giving them too many props at the moment, so will try to find something of theirs I hate so I can really slate it.

Still looking for lyrics

I'm still on the hunt for a really great song lyric. In my quest, I keep coming up against really bad ones.


My current favourite (worst) one is from 5ive (remember them? Anyone?)


"Wicky, Wicky // I'm getting jiggy // open up the doors got the keys to the city".


Quality eh? McCartney must be bricking himself.

Madder Dogs

Finished "Mad Dogs" at the weekend. It still superior British drama, and only suffered as it wasn't as good as series 1. Enjoyed the little cameo from Ben Chaplin and (spoiler alert) am looking forward to the inevitable third series.


I know I covered this the other day, but how is it that Sky are the ones churning out interesting drama now? I also recently finished Treasure Island, which I'll go into at more depth another day. 


Channel 4 really need to buck their ideas up.

Worst. Lyric. Ever.

The hunt for a good lyric continues. But on the way, I'm coming across some real bad ones.


Here's my current favourite for "worst lyric ever".


"I'm as serious as cancer, when I say rhythm is a dancer."
- SNAP!, Rhythm is a dancer


I mean...wow.

Finding a lyric

My favourite lyric used to be the Kaiser Chiefs: "Knock me down, I get straight back up again, come back stronger than a powered up Batman".


Then I found out they say "Pac-Man" not "Batman".


Fair enough, the lyric makes a bit more sense, as Pacman was a wimp until he "powered up", but still. I only really liked it because of the Batman reference.


Now I need to find a new favourite lyric.

Never say Neverland

Continuing on from my post about Sky seemingly being the only one producing interesting content at the moment, I sat down and watched both parts of Neverland the other day.


It was alright.


Keira Knightley was the voice of Tinkerbell, and didn't really say enough to annoy me. Anna Friel was good - she's actually quite an underrated actress... when she gets the chance she can be versatile. Rhys Ifans was a scene-stealer as Hook, it's good to see him again (where's he been the last few years?)


The fact that Bob Hoskins was playing Smee (a role he made famous in "Hook") was a bit weird, and his part didn't really amount to more than an extended cameo. The same goes for Charles Dance, who perhaps relished the idea of playing a character who WASN'T evil. He was only really there to provide exposition anyway.


The downside was the kids. I don't want to sound harsh, but child actors are normally really good or really bad. These guys weren't really bad, but it was so obvious they were "acting" it kept me from being immersed in the entertainment. The kid playing Peter seemed to epitomise a middle-class stage school brat trying to play a commoner (cor-blimey). The only exception to this was Curly, who made his charater interesting at least. I've already forgotten the names of the other Lost Boys.


So all-in-all, not Sky's best effort, by I applaud them for trying stuff like this. 

Fringe is back

Fringe is back on TV! My favourite Sci-fi of the moment and I'm now catching up with what's going on with Olivia, Peter, Walter, Broyles, Astrid and the rest of the gang...including all of their doubles.


Is it just me, or is Fauxlivia still much hotter than Olivia? I think it's the red hair and the cocky grin.


I'm messed up, I know.

The Dance is Done

FINALLY! Wez has finished Dance with Dragons.


It's taken about two months, as no longer having a daily three-and-a-half-hour round trip to and from work has eaten in to my "reading time", but I've finally finished it.


I know a lot of people are following Game of Thrones on TV and haven't cheated by reading ahead (like me), so I won't drop any spoiler bombs. What I will say is DAMN IT! Because some characters (I won't reveal which ones) have been left in some very precarious situations. One might even be dead. 


I just hope it doesn't take George RR Martin another seven years to finish the next book. Not sure I can wait that long.


At least Series 2 of the TV show is starting up in April... 

Over Heels

As I've mentioned before, I tend to dip in and out of wrestling and only really catch the big PPVs. Watching the Royal Rumble, it struck me that Vicki Guerrero and Michael Cole are somehow the two most over heels in wrestling.

If you'd have told me five years ago that would be the case, I would have laughed in your face. How things change.

Out in the Midday Sun

I'm currently two episodes into the new series of Mad Dogs and enjoying it so far. It's lacking the pazazz of Series 1, but then I think that might be because Series 1 really took me by surprise as to how good it was.

The cast is incredible, and as a big Life of Mars fan, it's cool to see Gene Hunt and Sam Tyler (sort of) reunited.

The big question is, when did Sky become the channel to watch when it comes to producing quality new content? While Channel 4 is languishing in cheap reality thrills, Sky1 have somehow become the channel that's trying all the new shows. Weird.

"Super" Bowl

I don't care about American Football. Hell, I don't really care about any sport, so the Superbowl is just about the most pointless thing to get excited about in my opinion.

What I did care about was the extended Avenger Superbowl trailer, which looked pretty damn awesome.

Surely the highlight was the exchange between Loki and Stark:

"I have an army."
"We have a Hulk."

Is it wrong to be excited already?

Speaking of books

I've begun working on a book of short stories, which I'm hoping to finish and get on Amazon this year. I'll keep you posted as I go on...

That time of the month

Now that everyone should have their January pay in their account, what better time to download a book by a new writer? 


Yes, it's that time of the month where I remind people that I've (badly) written a book. You can download i here: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Nightmare-at-Movies-ebook/dp/B005R41I7S/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1323953428&sr=8-1&fb_source=message


Please do, as every download helps! 

Seinfeld Win

So Sky Atlantic are reshowing Seinfeld from the pilot.


This is brilliant news as I dipped in and out of it from around season five onwards and didn't get into it in a big way until about season 8. And it seems to be a show that's rarely repeated in the UK.


So, I look forward to months and months of Jerry, George, Elaine and Kramer. Mostly George though, as he's surely one of the funniest characters in sitcom history.

The Game continues

Is it wrong that I'm getting more than just a little excited at the trailers for season 2 of Game of Thrones. I know it was my show of last year, but still, I'm like a little school girl, giddy with excitement whenever the trailers come on.


Oh and I STILL haven't finished book 5 yet!

The (Board)Walking Dude

Finished Season Two of Boardwalk the other night (after having it sit in my planner for a while), and thoroughly enjoyed it. Was it better than series one? Probably, although it did suffer from Michael Shannon  having a majorly reduced part this season.


There were ups and downs, and not just between Jimmy and his Mum (I actually threw up in my mouth at that point). Definite highlights were Richard (AKA the man with half a face) and Chalky White. The scene with Chalky in prison was surely the stand out scene of the series?


Anyway, at the end of Season 2 it looked like they were down some major characters. Let's hope that means that Al Capone, Lucky Luciano and the rest of the Chicago and New York gangs make more of an appearance in Season 3...