Fall TV 2012: Week Two – Returning Comedy

The Big Bang Theory The gang kicked off the season with Howard (Simon Helburg) still in space (Yay, he’s my least favourite of the bunch) and the others on dates – yes, even Sheldon (Jim Parsons). I’m not sure that I am really enjoying how much of an unfeeling automaton they are making Sheldon into…

Fall TV 2012: Week Two – New Shows

As I said, this past week has been so jam packed with shows premiering that it’s taken me a while to put down all my thoughts about them, and I’ve had to split up my posts into three sections. This post is going to focus on the new series that debuted this past week. Unfortunately,…

Movie #50: The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo

First let’s establish that I couldn’t get past a few pages of the Stieg Larsson novel; and I viewed-but-didn’t-enjoy the original Swedish film featuring Noomi Rapace (who I did enjoy watching). Nevertheless, I was excited when I heard that The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo was being remade in English by director David Fincher (whose…

Movie #49: Contagion

Contagion was not an easy movie to watch (and probably the scariest of my summer 50). Director Steven Soderbergh once again uses the technique he mastered in Traffic, the sober series of interconnected stories featuring a huge ensemble cast, to tell the larger tale of a global viral outbreak. While it’s a bit of a…

Movie #48: The Woman In Black

I think the biggest question on viewers’ minds was how actor Daniel Radcliffe (aka Harry Potter) would continue his career after playing the young wizard for a decade. I don’t know if anything was proven by his role/performance in the gothic horror movie The Woman In Black, but I guess it’s not a bad idea…

Movie #47: Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame

I debated not including this movie in my summer 50, because it’s so different (especially if you’re not used to this genre of quasi-historical Chinese martial arts fantasy epic adventure movie). However, the more I thought about it, the more Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame actually reminded me of a much…

Movie #46: The Descendants

I don’t think these kinds of serious, mundane films are really for me. I think I like my movies more for escapism, taking me to places and experiences I would probably never have in real life. While The Descendants was set in Hawaii, it clearly wasn’t meant as an escape (in fact, those false expectations…

Movie #45: Headhunters

I love movies with good plot twists, and the Norwegian film Headhunters (Hodejegerne) is enjoyable not only because of the surprises in its storyline, but the movie twists from style to style as well. The film starts out as an edgy, modern, satirical fable (like Fight Club or American Psycho). Executive recruiter Roger Brown feels…