Some Stuff on Hulu

Here's a two excellent things available to watch on Hulu Plus:

Journeyman was a casualty of the writers' strike, but it's worth giving it a shot.  It's about a newspaperman (that guy from Rome) set adrift in time, solving mysteries and righting wrongs.  In many ways, its very similar to Quantum Leap, but with much more of an ongoing story-arc.  Also, unlike Quantum Leap, there's a lot of "love triangle" plot (I'm not sure if that's good or not).  This show is well written, and the acting is good, but its nothing extraordinary.  B+ if you like sci-fi.  Probably only B- if you don't.

Fact is, NOVA is awesome.  If I need to tell you about NOVA, you're not the sort of person who would like it.  There are almost 50 episodes of NOVA available on Hulu.  I haven't seen all of them, but I particularly recommend Becoming Human, Mind Over Money, and Hunting the Hidden Dimension.  You can also watch several episodes on PBS.

The Life Before Her Eyes

I just finished watching The Life Before Her Eyes, and I'm not really sure how I feel about it (which, I think, is sometimes the sign of a really good movie, and sometimes just bad writing).  It's hard for me to review it without giving away the ending, but I'll try.  It's the story of Diana, who is terrorized at a school shooting as a teenager.  She and her best friend Maureen are an unlikely duo.  Diana is something of a "girl in trouble" whereas Maureen is a christian good girl.  (The movie tries to be aware enough to see how obvious this is; at one point the characters remark "virgin and the whore...we're like the whole of art history in one package") The context of their unlikely friendship unfolds in a series of flashbacks while the gunman, a freak-friend of Diana's, holds them at gunpoint, demanding that they choose which of them he should kill.  In addition to flashbacks of Diana and Maureen's past, we also see flash-forwards to Diana as an adult (played by Uma Thurman).  Until the last 10 minutes of the movie, I would have rated it as a B-, ok but nothing special.  The direction is kind of pretentious, and, while the acting is good, it's nothing special.  There were some things that didn't really make sense, and I had trouble following some of the timeline.  The ending cast the whole movie in a different light.  Having read some other reviews, I think a lot of people didn't get it.  I really think it might benefit from a second watching.  If I do that, I'll come back and update this.  A-.

Endgame

I've just discovered an awesome Candian show called Endgame on hulu.  If House and Monk had a baby, it would be Endgame. (That is to say, it's another Sherlock allegory).   Here's the setup:  Several months before the show begins (maybe a few years even?), a brilliant world-champion Russian chess star is staying at a Vancouver hotel with his fiance.  She was gunned down right outside the hotel, while he watched.  He now has agoraphobia, and can't leave the hotel.  He's been living there, in a suite, ever since.  His money has run out, and he's about to get evicted.  There is a kidnapping, and he cracks the case.  The grateful father pays his hotel bill.  Thus starts his new career, solving detective "puzzles".  At first, he's just in it for the money, but soon it's all about solving the puzzle.

Since he can't leave the hotel, he has to convince others, including the gruff hotel security chief, a smart, witty maid, and a chess-groupie (math!) grad student to do the legwork for him.  I'm on episode 4 right now, and I'm really enjoying it.

The main character's name is Arkady Balligan, and he's brilliant, funny, playful, but kind of an asshole (very much like House) and tormented by the death of his fiance (like Monk).  He's convinced that he was the real target of the assassination (maybe for murky Russian political reasons), and is consumed by guilt about it.  Other characters include the lovely well-connected bartender and Pippa, the dead fiance's sister (who is angry that Arkady is working on other cases, but not her sister's).

The acting is good, but nothing special.  The writing is the real star; the mysteries are crisp, and the dialog (at least Arkady's) is sparkly sharp.  It was nice to see (and a real contrast with American TV) in the first episode, the kidnapper's parents are a gay couple, and nothing is made of it at all.  The fact that it's two men instead of a man and a woman is completely irrelevant to the plot, and no one suspects them of being child-murderers just because they're gay.

In an interesting mechanic, when Arkady is working through scenarios in his head, we see his thoughts as series of different scenarios for the crime with him talking to the people while they commit the crime.  It's a nice glimpse into his thought process, and adds a unique touch.

B+ so far (based on 3 episodes)  There are 5 episodes available right now (2/1/2012) and new ones come out on Mondays.

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, etc

 I recently saw new David Fincher version of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo in theaters.  I highly recommend it.  Given the option between seeing the American verison in theaters or the Swedish one on Netflix, you should drop the money to see it in theaters.  Among other reasons, this is the kind of smart, sexy, grown up movie we want to see Hollywood make, but only stupid schlock for kids makes blockbuster money.  Send a message to Hollywood, pay some money to see this movie.

After I got home, I watched the original on Netflix.  The acting is perhaps better than the American version, and the direction is good (but its no David Fincher).  Also, bonus, there's three of them.  Generally I don't mind subtitles, but because the action moves so fast in this movie (which is a great thing), there were a couple of times I had to rewind to catch some dialog.  The movie is different enough from the American version that it wasn't a waste of time to see them both.

The first movie was better than the sequel (The Girl Who Played With Fire), but #2 was still very entertaining.  The acting and script were tight and gripping, but not as "edge of my seat, come home from the theater and watch it in Swedish" gripping as the first one.  I haven't watched the third one yet.

A+ for the Fincher verison of Girl With the Dragon Tattoo in theaters.  A for the Swedish version.  A- for The Girl Who Played With Fire.

Strange Days

Strange Days (no longer available to stream) is a weird, awesome, compelling movie.  It stars a very wide range of people before they came to wider attention.  Ralph Fiennes (excellent as always), Vincent D'Onofrio (creepy and convincing), Juliet Lewis, Angela Basset (smokin') , etc.  It came out about the same time as Johnny Mnemonic, and it's a lot like that movie would be if it didn't suck.  Set 5 minutes in the future, on the eve of Y2K, I really love all the small background details.  Ralph Fiennes is an ex-cop who now deals black-market VR disks.  It's a little slow at the beginning, but don't give up on it until the who-dunnit kicks in around the half way mark. B+

Borgia

Do you miss the show Rome?  The beautiful costumes and settings?  The intrigue and sexy collusion?  Borgia is a pretty good substitute.  It follows the papacy of Rodrigo Borgia, aka Pope Alexander the VI.  The girl in the white veil in the picture is his daughter, Lucretia (Lucrezia).  You've probably heard of her; there are swirling legends of her poisoning her husbands, sleeping with her brothers, and murdering a swath across Europe.

The show is well written (it's written by Tom Fontana, the creator of Oz), and the production valus are extremely high, but the acting sometimes leaves something to be desired.  This isn't the Showtime show with Jeremy Irons, it's a European production.  According to IMDB, they came out at the same time (both this year), so I don't think either is based on the other (I guess it was just in the Ether?).  I recommend this series strongly to fans of Rome or similar shows, and look forward to seeing the Showtime version when its available to stream.  B+/A-

Day Break

I started watching a really interesting series that Netflix just got (in fact, it seems like they jut got a lot of new TV, so expect a lot of new TV reviews over the next few weeks.  It's called Day Break.  It stars Taye Diggs (so, so tasty) as a police officer who's been set up for murdering a DA.  He is arrested for the crime soon after he wakes up.  Thing is, he keeps living that same bad day over and over (Groundhogs Day style).  I'm only on the 4th episode, but it's really good so far.  Very complicated plot, with lots of twists and turns, and mystery.  Every "day" you learn a few new clues.  Good cast, interesting idea, strong mystery, lots of action.  I'll keep you posted as I watch more.  B+ so far.

The Oxford Murders

The Oxford Murders was a little disappointing, but only because I got my hopes up.  John Hurt stars as a Wittgenstein-esque logician named Seldom.  Elijah Wood is an up and coming mathematics post-doc trying to convince Seldom to mentor him.  When Frodo's landlady (who is an old friend of Seldom's) is killed, they are dragged into an ongoing investigation of a logico-philosophical serial killer.  This movie has got to be good, right?  Sadly, it's a little slow, with too much talking and too little mystery, especially in the first half.  It's worth putting up with it, the second half is much better.  A solid B+ movie if you're into math, but probably only B- if you're not (but shouldn't you be?)

Law & Order: SVU



Law & Order: Special Victims Unit

So, you may not have realized this, but there are 11 seasons of Law & Order SVU on Netflix Instant.  That's more than 150 hours of Law & Order goodness!  Personally, I've been watching Law & Order on TV since it started, so I've already seen most of these, but, looking through the episode titles, there's some in every season I missed or didn't remember.  SVU is my favorite Law & Order, mostly because of the chemistry between all the actors.  I really believe that the SVU squad is a kind of a family.  I really like the way that the episodes each stand completely on their own, but they still reward loyal viewing with subtle character growth and development.  The acting is nearly always good, especially after season 2 or 3, when they all seem to have really settled into inhabiting their characters.  Particularly in early seasons, it's fun to spot stars before they were stars in guest roles as both perps and victims.  B+ for the show overall, episodes vary from B- to A+.