Someone needs your help Michael

Finally, Burn Notice is back on UK screens. Playing out like a tongue-in-cheek cross between James Bond and The A-Team, it's fun television and an easy watch. A great antithesis to something like Treme and Mad Men both of which are amazing but require you to follow everything diligently. With Burn Notice you can just switch off and enjoy the fun.


With the exception of Gabrielle Anwar's Irish accent for the first couple of episodes, nothing has jarred with the series. Each week there's a happy resolution, which is probably why it reminds me so much of the A-Team. The bad guys always get their comeuppance, which is great escapism after you've watched something like The Wire. All-in-all, it's harmless fun and thoroughly entertaining.


Plus it's got the man, the legend Bruce "Groovy" Campbell in it. What more could you ask for?

A "Rapid" Comedy (boom-boom)

Maybe it was just because “Dinner with Schmucks” had substantially lowered the comedy bar, but I really enjoyed “Cedar Rapids”. It’s a real indie comedy, but then I enjoy stuff like “Napoleon Dynamite” and “Adventureland”, so it’s right up my street.

I think Ed Helms is a great comic actor and the roles he plays, from “The Hangover” to “The US Office”, are always versatile. Unlike watching some comedians, where you always see the ‘actor’ (see Vince Vaughn), when you watch Helms you always believe in his character.

John C Reilly is consistent as always, this time playing a more grown up (yet equally immature) variation of his character from “Step Brothers”. And my favourite in joke is Isiah Whitlock Jr’s character constantly referencing “The HBO series The Wire”, in which he had played the character of Clay Davis.

There were some good supporting performances from the always entertaining Stephen Root and the legendary Sigourney Weaver. It was also good to see Alia Shawkat or “Arrested Development” fame again, as I can’t stress enough how much that series was pure comedy gold that should never have been cancelled.

All-in-all, an enjoyable indie romp. Way better than “Dinner with Schmucks”.

Absolutely the best thing on TV

I’ve been quite vocal about the fact that I think “Game of Thrones” is the best thing on television. Despite a slightly anticlimactic season finale, one the whole the series was consistently excellent, with complex characters and dense storylines.

Part of what let the final episode down was that they’d set so much up throughout the series that there was no way that everything was going to get resolved. I would have liked at least a few more loose ends tied up, however in the long run I think it’s probably a really good move, as season two is surely already the most anticipated television event of 2012?

It’s so rare that there’s an intelligent show where genuinely anyone could die at any point. Even in The Wire there were some characters (i.e. McNulty) that remained untouchable throughout. Add to this some excellent performances from the entire ensemble cast, with special mentions having to go to Aidan Gillen as the scheming Little Finger, and Sean Bean and the heroic, if not somewhat naïve Stark. The young actors are all brilliant, especially Maisie Williams who plays Arya (you she’s going to be a big part of future seasons) and Jack Gleeson who does a great job of making Joffrey the most detestable character in the whole thing. And whilst everyone gives solid performances, the true star of the show has to be Peter Dinklage as Tyrion, whose dry sarcasm provides the majority of the show’s laugh-out-loud moments.

The end of episode 9 was truly jaw-dropping (it actually made me start as I was so sure they weren’t going to go through with it), and the cliffhangers at the end of the season have left lots open for season 2. My early predictions are a Lannister/Stark war throughout the early episodes, before they’re forced to put their differences aside to deal with the White Walkers and what Jon Snow’s got going on up north. I doubt there’ll be any confrontation with Daenerys and her brood until season 3. On that note, a great ending to her story…I thought it was coming but it was nice to see them not shy away from such a “fantasy” twist.

It’s the show I’m recommending to everyone that they watch. I won’t hear anyone saying that they can’t deal with the “fantasy” side of it – the show could easily have been about warring affluent families in America – as it’s not about the setting it’s about the story. Much like Battlestar, the medieval backdrop just adds texture to watching the stories of these incredibly layered characters unfold.

Not sure if I can discipline myself to wait until 2012 for the new series…think I might have to start reading the books…

“Stick them with the pointy end.”

Getting ready for Thor's Day

I’ve been thinking about this summer’s big comic book movies, and Thor is far and away the one I’m looking forward to the most.

Be it the predicted tease introduction of Hawkeye, Anthony Hopkins thesping it up as Odin or the needlessly controversial appearance of Idris Elba (its 2011, surely we’ve moved beyond caring about the colour of a character’s skin?), there’s lots to look forward to. Speaking of Idris Elba, I can’t defend him enough. He was the biggest revelation in the wholly amazing “The Wire” and has recently been excellent flexing his deadpan chops in The US Office.

So for me, bring on next week.

I’ll happily watch the other three, with Captain America being the neat companion film to Thor to set up Joss Whedon’s 2012 “Avengers” movie, which I could not possibly be more excited about. Especially now it’s got How I met Your Mother’s Cobie Smulders as Maria Hill – really glad to see they’re bringing in another strong female character. Plus I do wonder if Alyson Hannigan introduced her and Joss, as she seems to be the missing link in their six-degrees of Kevin Bacon game.

Captain America’s also got some excellent looking CGI (skinny Chris Evans looks great on the trailer) and Hugo Weaving is always a top choice for a bad guy. I wouldn’t be surprised if the film ends with Captain America saving the day but in the process falling to his “death” in the frozen artic, only for the post credit sequence to be Samuel L Jackson / Robert Downey thawing him out in the present day.

X-Men: First Class is a bit of a weird one for me, as I love the X-men comics, but have yet to see a film that has properly reached it’s full potential. It’s either too much about Wolverine, or there’s too many needless characters running around (and not enough Gambit). I’m not convinced about James McAvoy as Xavier either, but am happy to be proven wrong. Michael Fassbender should be a good Magneto, and January Jones is inspired casting as Emma Frost. If any actress screamed “cold beauty” it’s her. And it’s always nice to see Kevin Bacon again.

Finally we’ve got Green Lantern, which I’m most dubious about. Partly because of the ropey trailer and partly because of the needless “complete CGI” effect when Ryan Reynolds becomes Green Lantern. I get that they want him to appear fantastical, but surely he could just have a costume! I just think it seems a bit pointless, which is exasperating as the character / Green Lantern corps have great potential for future films, and I think DC will probably red light / green light Wonder Woman and The Flash based on it’s success. And that’s a shame, as DC have got some great heroes that are worthy of their own franchises, and they need to start doing something other than Batman and Superman reboots if they’re going to keep up with Marvel, who are steaming ahead with three blockbuster films a year at the moment.

But that’s all speculation at the moment. We’ll see what Thor is like and go from there. And there’s less than a week to go until that.

Ultimately I wonder if I’ve been over-thinking all this? I say thee nay...