10 O'Clock Live (Channel 4)

☻ ☻ ☻ 10 O'Clock Live (Channel 4) may be another news show hosted by comedians, but what a mix! David Mitchell tells, no, demands, that politicians answer his questions. Charlie Brooker continues to blur the lines between TV and reality (did you know that Mubarak bears an eerie resemblance to the Count from Sesame Street?). Jimmy Carr usually manages to keep a straight face while suggesting the  ridiculous, such as vets becoming Community Health Specialists and butchers then filling in for animal docs. The next step on the continuum you ask? Not the government's problem. The fourth member of the team, Lauren Laverne, frightfully underutilized, whips the others into line. Wrong continent for a Canadian, but the same problems.

Jimmy Carr putting product placement in the news:

Courtesy Channel 4

Speaking out:

Basil Fawlty (John Cleese) and his
misbehaving automobile. Courtesy BBC.

"10 O'Clock Live became the latest show to try to raise the ghost of TW3 [That Was The Week That Was] and channel [Jon] Stewart [The Daily Show]. ... [T]he over-dominant tone, especially from Mitchell and Brooker, is exaggerated comic rant: Basil Fawlty as reporter. ... [10 O'Clock] has the potential to become a must-see weekly show looking back at the week that was. Mark Lawson (Guardian)

"[R]ecession, credit crunches, home ownership crises and the punishment of many while the rich go free have become part of life. ...  We may not all be angry, but we're all annoyed, and if we can't get the bastards, at least we can be rude about them and laugh." David Quantick (The Independent)

"[T]hese are very early days. The comedic chemistry and sense of live urgency will take a while to develop. It was not helped by the blank spaciousness of the set ... The show's key asset, though, is four talented performers." Andrew Anthony (Observer) 

True Grit (2010)

☻ ☻ ☻ True Grit (2010). Young Mattie Ross (Hailee Steinfeld) wants a man with true grit. He'll need it if he's to hunt down her father's murderers and bring them to justice. What she doesn't reckon on is a hireling (Jeff Bridges as Marshal Rooster Cogburn) unwilling to take orders from a mere 14-year-old. Or on having outside competition in the form of Texas Ranger, LaBoeuf (nicely underplayed by Matt Damon). They'll all need true grit to get through this one. Another fine film from the Coen Brothers (Joel and Ethan).

With The Dude (Jeff Bridges)

I was pleasantly surprised to discover the current adaptation of the 1968 novel by Charles Portis is more popular than the 1969 original starring John Wayne. I never saw saw it -- I never could stand The Duke.

With The Duke (John Wayne)

Speaking out on True Grit (2010) -- with The Dude: 

  95%/87% rottentomatoes.com (2 Mar 2011*)

  8.0/10  imdb.com (23 Mar 2011*)

Speaking out on True Grit (1969) -- with The Duke:

  89%/82% rottentomatoes.com (2 Mar 2011*)

  7.3/10  imdb.com (23 Mar 2011*)

* * *

Note

* Date of website access.

How Television Ruined Your Life (BBC)

☻ ☻ Charlie Brooker's back! How Television Ruined Your Life (BBC2) shows the usual OTT Charlie dissing TV while attempting to convince viewers Midsomer's a real place and Knowing Me, Knowing You with Alan Partridge was an actual chat show. Full of the expected strong language and gross imagery, but very, very funny. A relatively tame clip: Trouble at the office Speaking out: "[O]ne of his most acute shows to date. ... Brooker’s comedy is mixed with cynicism and imaginative descriptive observations that are impossible not to laugh out loud at. ...[T]he pace ... may cause viewers to marvel at the amount of content intricately packed into those sole 30 minutes." Ashley Jacob (Suite101®)

Inspector Aurelio Zen (BBC)

☻ ☻ ☻ New series! Michael Dibdin's Inspector Aurelio Zen (BBC). Only three episodes. RIP? Filmed on location, the show's worth watching simply for the atmosphere. And the architecture.  A preview of Episode 2, Cabal: Pigs that they are, there's an office bet as to  who it  will be. Zen forfeits his prize. Think Aurelio's life is complicated? Why not take the opportunity to find out more by reading the books? An interview with Rufus Sewell (Aurelio Zen): Not looking particularly like Venetian Zen, Sewell's  more believable in an expensive Italian suit.  Speaking out: [A]t least two-and-a-half cheers to Vendetta, the first of three new Zen stories ... [A] pacy and intriguing thriller, dripping with gorgeous panoramas of Rome and haunting Italian countryside." Adam Sweeting (The Arts Desk)

Biutiful (2010)

☻ ☻ ☻ Biutiful (2010). The place is down-at-heel Barcelona. Living on the fringes of society, the father of two children who has taken on the responsibility for too many people, receives one more. With only a few months to live what's he to do to assure his kids' future? If that weren't enough, he sees ghosts too, serving to remind us that life is a constant cycle of beginnings and endings. In Spanish, with subtitles. Barcelona, even the weather was poor: Speaking out:    66%/77% rottentomatoes.com (2 Mar 2011*)   7.6/10  imdb.com (2 Mar 2011*) * * * Note * Date of website access.

The Millenium Trilogy (2009)

☻ ☻ ☻ See any of the Swedish films adapted from Steig Larssen's Millennium Trilogy. Watch them dubbed or subtitled, I saw both and preferred the atmosphere of the Swedish. Don't wait for the North American remakes. Read the books too: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played with Fire, and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest. I enjoyed them all. The last was my favourite. Speaking out on The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2009):   86%/85% rottentomatoes.com  (2 Mar 2011*)   7.7/10 imdb.com (2 Mar 2011*) Speaking out on The Girl Who Played with Fire (2009):    69%/67% rottentomatoes.com  (2 Mar 2011*)   6.8/10 imdb.com (2 Mar 2011*) Speaking out on The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest (2009):   52%/67% rottentomatoes.com  (2 Mar 2011*)   7.0/10 imdb.com (2 Mar 2011*)  * * * Note * Date of website access.

Let the Right One In (2008)

☻ ☻ ☻ Let the Right One In (2008). Watch the DVD, then read the book by John Ajvide Lindqvist. Or vice versa. I found the film creepy, but the book scarier. Make sure it's the Swedish version an not the North American Let Me In. Subtitled Swedish is my preference. I find it has more atmosphere. Making friends. It's one of her good-hair days. Speaking out:   98%/90% rottentomatoes.com  (2 Mar 2011*)   8.1/10 imdb.com (2 Mar 2011*) * * * Note * Date of website access.

The Company Men (2010)

☻ ☻ The Company Men (2010). Finally, top management with a heart. An interesting twist on the standard one-way corporate  loyalty requirement and its inevitable result. Worth watching just for Tommy Lee Jones (Gene McClary), who's not the man you'd expect. A man who generally makes himself clear, He's no match for the high-stakes corporate baddies. With Chris Cooper (Phil Woodward) as a guy with an expensive family.  Ben Affleck and Kevin Costner are in predictable roles, Affleck as Bobby Walker, the man who's told to walk, and Costner as Jack Dolan, his unexpected saviour. Here's Phil Woodward (Chris Cooper), who's not a happy camper: Who has it worse, the laid off or those who remain? Speaking out:    64%/60% rottentomatoes.com  (2 Mar 2011*)   6.9/10 imdb.com (2 Mar 2011*)  * * * Note * Date of website access.

The King's Speech (2010)

☻ ☻ ☻ ☻ The King's Speech (2010). And you thought you were afraid of public speaking. A feel-good film you'll want to see again and again. Starring Colin Firth George VI), Geoffrey Rush (leveller Lionel Logue), Helena Bonham Carter (the future Queen Mum), Derek Jacobi (no-nonsense Archbishop Lang) and some great architecture and furniture. Speaking out:    95%/94% rottentomatoes.com  (2 Mar 2011*)   8.4/10 imdb.com (2 Mar 2011*) "[Colin] Firth leads from the front with such compassion, abetted by a director clearly in his thrall, that a film about the struggle for speech ultimately silences such cavils." Matt Wolf (The Arts Desk)  * * * Note * Date of website access.

Primeval (ITV)

☻ ☻  Primeval (ITV) It's back! Dinosaurs, time travel and mayhem. More amazing rescues from perplexed critters. More disgracefully bad, perhaps mad, scientists. More visitors from the future. Nice architecture too. What more could anyone want. Ever cool, calm and collected, Lester getting a wee surprise: One of the hazards of working with anomalies To return latter this year ... Speaking out: "Probably the most individual and unique item in [ITV's] repertoire ... a great series." Throng UK blogger atomickarma (Christian Cawley) commenting on the previous series' end.

Being Human (BBC)

☻ ☻ ☻ BBC's Being Human is back for a another series. Apparently, Limbo still exists. Much better than the new derivative American version. However, it is fun to watch both and compare (ie, predict what will happen, based on the original). Calling the mirrored vampire Aidan was a bit OTT, though. As expected, the final episode was a cliff-hanger. Stake your hopes on New Zealand and take a gander at the cast members of Peter Jackson's two-part film adaptation of Tolkien's Lord of the Rings prequel, The Hobbit, if you what to understand what really occurred. Win some, lose some. The good news is a fourth series is now in the works! Vampire Mitchell below. See kids? This is what what happens when you get bored on the bus, so don't forget your book! Mitchell doing a poor job of pretending to Be Human Speaking out: "Being Human depends on how you see it ... [A]s a comedy then it’s simply not funny enough ... [A]s a serious drama that takes a unique spin on an overused subject that actually has a solid theme running through it then it’s one of the best things BBC Three has ever shown." Steven Cookson (Suite101®)

Atonement (2007)

☻ ☻ ☻ Atonement (2007). Twist to your average criminal's get-out-of-jail-free wartime play of joining the army and combine it with a child's misinterpretation. James McAvoy plays WWI criminal Robbie Turner imprisoned on the word of 13-year-old Briony Tallis (Saoirse Ronan). Her sister, Cecilia Tallis (Keira Knightley), condemns herself to pay the price. Years later Briony (Vanessa Redgrave) makes a public announcement  of contrition. Based upon master of the cringingly embarrassing, Ian McEwan's magnificent, but Booker Prize-nominated novel. Decide for yourself if any atoning was achieved. And don't forget to bring virtual rotten produce to throw at the real criminal. Read The Biblio Phile blog's Love, War & Remembrance Speaking out:    83%/79%  rottentomatoes.com (2 Mar 2011*)   7.8/10 imdb.com (2 Mar 2011*)  * * * Note * Date of website access.