31 May 2013

Harry S01E01-04 (TV3, 2013)

After a heads-up last year, Harry turned up without much notice (or so it seemed to me) and has so far progressed with all the speed of a turd.

It feels faintly unpatriotic or something to describe the show that way but, really, no matter the colourful gritty portrayal of South Auckland and the employment of a large swathe of Maori and Pasifika actors in such a high profile production, the finished product is a very big disappointment.

Take the somnabulent direction (yeah it's pretty and flashy but the pacing is so slooow), the clumsy dialogue (miss something earlier in the show? it's okay, someone will tell us what happened), and a story strung out over six - fucking SIX! - eps that would take any other even half-interesting procedural show one, maybe even two, eps to tell.

Take this week's ep where hero detective Harry (Oscar Kightley) gave some meth cook a cellphone, and how that phone led to the cook's demise.  With scripted policing like this - one of the writers is a former officer - recent events like the Urewera occupation and the Kim Dotcom fiasco would seem to indicate that this show is merely art imitating life.

Whoa, this show has sure got me riled up, bringing in recent events and shit into a review (and my longest post for some time).  It's the lost opportunity that pains me the most:  a Kiwi cop show with a brown lead and a whole lot of New Zealand On Air swag, considered edgy and gritty by mainstream media, but for this blogger undone by an absence of imagination in the writing (the dialogue particularly) and execution.

Yeah, I'll watch this to the fucking end.  'Cause I'm like that, bitches.

15 May 2013

A Good Day to Die Hard (2013; John Moore / Skip Woods)

 A fifteen minute chase scene that is less interesting than the most boring car chase in Rising Sun.

B-, no, E-grade dialogue in case you're goddamned blind.

Proof that one can progress from Behind Enemy Lines to a so-so franchise.

Oh, Bruce.  Bruce, Bruce, Bruce, Bruce, Bruce.

06 May 2013

Endeavour S01E01-02 (ITV, 2013-)

Those with fond memories of John Thaw grumping about Oxford will be pleasantly surprised by this prequel.

The first ep - have only realised there was a proper pilot last year which I'm tracking down - was a nice return to the look, feel and sound of the original Morse series, with just enough modern touches to keep a 21st century interested.  Shaun Evans makes a nice gangling and awkward young Morse who, in the words of his mentor, is "a brilliant detective but a poor policeman."  Roger Allam as said mentor is pitch perfect as a period plod with a brain and heart - and an obvious soft spot for his protege.  The rest of the cast - along with the week's guest stars - provide nice period colour - something that seemed sorely lacking from a random ep of Martin Shaw's George Gently.

The first ep's direction is solid and the writing is spot-on, a very comforting experience, while the second ep's Se7en and Silence of the Lambs influences clang a little heavily, and are forgiven only by the consistent characterisations.

The Better Half certainly likes the show.  It's Comfort TV, especially in these coming cold months.

02 May 2013

The Last Stand (2013; Jee-woon Kim / Andrew Knauer)


Where the awful Olympus Has Fallen sucked ass with everything, The Last Stand succeeds with low expectations, minimal story and animal charisma aplenty.

The Eighties and Nineties might be a distant and hazy memory but it's nice to have Arnold back.

01 May 2013

Olympus Has Fallen (2013; Antoine Fuqua / Creighton Rothenberger & Katrin Benedikt)

Antoine - bro!  Cuz!

Seriously:  WHAT THE FUCKETY FUCKINGLY FUCK, bro?

A flat-out Die Hard in the White House movie?  And now I see why Gerard Butler get so much stick.  He's about as much fun as a felching session with a parent-in-law.

Hey, the trailer was shit but I admire your work, bro, and I thought, The finished film can not be as bad as this shitty trailer.  And then I saw the finished film and I'm like, WTF?

Christ All-fucking-mighty.