Fall TV 2012: Week One

We’re back for the start of another fall premiere season. First thing I have to say is that I’m not super excited about it. Being a sci-fi, fantasy, genre fan, there’s not a whole lot for me to get excited about this year. There is virtually no sci-fi on TV this fall (the closest we…

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Fall TV 2012: Preview Week Zero

I can’t believe that summer is behind us already and networks are gearing up to bring us all their fall seasons. Fortunately some networks also decided to put their new shows up on iTunes or streaming from their websites, so I’ve gotten to watch some of the pilots of new shows even before they air….

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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…

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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…

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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…

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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…

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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…

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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…

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