TV: Gotham SE1 EP1

Gotham
Crime, Drama, Thriller

I haven't blogged in while I know... but I just had to blog about this one, didn't I? I've been waiting for it for months now and they kept releasing teasers and prequels and finally it's here!

It pretty much jumps straight into the death of the Waynes'....and is it terrible or what?! Poor little Batman (David Mazouz) It's goddamn devastating. I wonder how much we will see him in this considering it's meant to be more an origin story of Commissioner Gordon (Ben McKenzie). Imagine copping the Wayne's as a first case in Gotham? Worst luck ever. Gordon's partnered up with Harvey Bullock (Donal Logue) who is this hard-ass gristled old detective who's been jaded by the job... and what a job Gotham looks like!

We see some classic characters like the opening scene with Cat Woman (Camren Bicondova) that we've seen a million times now, and a young Poison Ivy, plus of course, Alfred! I love the choice of actor, Sean Pertwee who you might know as Lestrade from Elementary. Fish Mooney (Jada Pinkett Smith) is not in the comics but I like the character. I'd probably like her better if Oswald (Robin Taylor) wasn't standing next to her when we first saw her. I have a feeling his performance will be very similar to Andrew Scott's (Moriarty) in Sherlock: Amazing.

It'd probably be better if they hadn't tried so hard to get those artsy shots. I mean it looks good but it also looks a little pretentious. I'm also a little annoyed that they showed us most of the first episode with all the little teasers and prequel things. I think the thing I mostly liked about this show is the idea of this being Batman's town but I always give shows a few episodes before I decide whether I enjoy them or not, sooo:

3 out of 5 baby bats...

TV: Hemlock Grove SE1

Hemlock Grove
Horror, Mystery, Thriller

I started watching this show because I heard that season 2 was coming, it's a Netflix so seasons come out all in one go (love that!) and because I'd run out of decent shows to watch... if you have any suggestions, let me know! I'll be reviewing anime soon... ha!

Anyway, this show confused the hell out of me at first. I kept thinking I was missing things but I'm pretty sure that's just the way the show is. I'd heard a few whispers about werewolves and vampires but I didn't see any for the first few episodes and thought I must have heard wrong... then I saw the above clip... WOW! I literally stood up and cheered. I am so glad they did the werewolf thing right. No cheese, all gross: fantastic! I spent the rest of the season waiting to see the change again.

I love that they've used Gypsies instead of witches, witches are so overdone. In fact, the way this is written, scripted and filmed is done so well that none of the supernatural elements are lame, as we see in most shows of the same genre. Add in Famke Janssen (Jean Grey from X-Men), Bill Skarsgard (Alexander Skarsgard's little brother), Landon Liboiron (Terra Nova, Degrassi) and Lili Taylor (Almost Human, High Fidelity), a mostly unknown yet surprisingly fantastic cast, and we have a pretty darn awesome show!

I especially love the tense bromance between Peter (Liboiron) and Roman (Skarsgard). I wasn't sure whether they were going to rip each other apart or tear each others' clothes off... please go with second one! I'm also enjoying the Gypsy lore featuring Peter's cousin Destiny (Kaniehtiio Horn), the whole mystery of who/what/where Roman's sister Shelley (Nicole Boivin) came from, and what exactly is Roman supposed to be!?

I figured out who the killer was in the first few episodes but that main plotline wasn't what kept me watching... and I kept changing my mind back and forth. This show is full of mysteries! Stay tuned for season 2 review...

4 out of 5 werewolves...

Movie: Anna (2013)

Anna
Drama, Thriller

Also known as "Mindscape", this film has such an interesting concept but the preview doesn't show you very much about it. John, played by Mark Strong (Kick Ass, Sherlock Holmes), is a detective of the mind: he takes people back into their memories and goes in himself as a witness. I immediately thought it might be a bit like Inception and began picking up hints from very early on. John said something about being able to see him as a distant figure in memories and just before that he saw a guy in the distance. From the preview I gathered he's being charged with something and that they are using a mindscaper on him to find out what happened.

John stopped mindscaping because he his memories of his wife's murder kept sneaking into other peoples memories while he was working... but of course he runs out of money and needs to go back to it. His friend gives him Anna's - Taissa Farmiga (American Horror Story) - case. Anna is very smart, very troubled and very complex. I spent most of the movie trying to figure her out and the rest trying to figure out if any of it was real...

Good movie, well shot. I really enjoy the psychological thrillers that keep you guessing. Farmiga's performance is perfect. I'd really like to see her in a different role though, she always plays the freaky girl... The twist at the end was totally predictable but I liked picking out all the bits throughout the film. Not terrible, not fantastic...

3 out of 5 dreidels...

Movie: Grand Piano (2013)

Grand Piano
Mystery, Thriller

I was already a bit jaded on this film after watching just the preview. I knew there would be lots of awesome piano playing which is what I was looking forward to. What I wasn't looking forward to was the thriller side of it... really? Play my pretty, or die! *evil laugh*

Tom, played by Elijah Wood (Lord of The Rings, Sin City) is the brightest piano player of his generation married to the brightest movie star of her generation (Kerry Bishe). Tom has been avoiding performing for 5 years after choking on stage, until his wife sets up a comeback concert. I would be so peeved at her for doing that. Not only does he have the pressure to play well after the failure of his last performance and his wife has set him up this lovely comeback, but he is also being threatened by some crazy person who just so happens to be played by John Cusack (High Fidelity, Being John Malkovich).

In saying all that... I did want this movie to be terrible... but it wasn't entirely. Even though Cusack is a disembodied voice for all but 5 minutes of the film and I actually thought it was all in the pianists head until people started dying, I didn't hate it. The plot was wafer thin and the one part that was interesting was cut off. It's not something I would normally pick up and enjoy... but it wasn't terrible... Kudos to Elijah Wood for actually playing most of those pieces, amazing. Can't say I'll be watching this again though, that's why it gets:

2 out of 5 conductors...

Movie: Odd Thomas (2013)

Odd Thomas
Mystery, Thriller

You might recognise the name of this film from the series of books written by Dean Koontz and yes this is an adaptation. I haven't read these books yet but they are pretty high up on my list now. I have read quite a lot of other Koontz though and I recognise his story style in the film. He normally writes mysteries with a twist of the fantastical, such as Odd Thomas (Anton Yelchin - Star Trek). Odd can see dead people, they never talk but using his "psychic magnetism" he figures out how they died and why they cant't move on.

It's a great little story and it features some new faces and some old. I spotted Arnold Vosloo (The Mummy) who made me chuckle as the one armed ghost looking for a laugh and Willem Dafoe (Spider-Man) as the police chief who tries to make sense of Odd's abilities. Addison Timlin (Californication) plays Odd's lovely girlfriend, Stormy. Their relationship is so cute; they're soul mates, even a fortune teller told them so. I love their banter and Stormy's complete and utter acceptance of Odd's abilities.

I really enjoyed this movie. I've heard there has been a bit of a drama over it actually being released and I'm not sure if they've resolved that yet... maybe it will go straight to DVD. But I definitely recommend it. It's funny and has a great story with some fantastic scenes played out by the two leads. I laughed, I cried and it made me want to read the books and find out what happens next with Odd Thomas. If you see this on the shelf, pick it up!

5 out of 5 I see dead people...

TV: Hostages SE1 EP12

Hostages
Drama, Thriller

This is actually a really good show. This first season reminds me very much of what Homeland's first season felt like. Every episode has a bit of a wow factor and we are continually finding out more and more about the story.

The story is that the president has to go in for surgery of some kind and Dr Sanders (Toni Collette - United States of Tara) is chosen as the best in the field. Someone wants to kill the president so they hold the Doctor and her family hostage and force her to kill him during the procedure. She stalled the first time and now they are running into all of these problems... plus there is a lot more to the story than first seemed.

The head of the group holding the family hostage, Duncan (Dylan McDermott - American Horror Story), is an FBI agent who's wife is the illegitimate daughter of the president, born of rape. She has leukemia and needs the bone marrow of a family member to survive; the president. So now the Doc is semi on Duncan's side...she even kissed him in the last episode... but then she told her husband that she couldn't do it... It's a bit all over the shop.

They're all trapped into the plan now because whoever it is who hired them will kill all of them if they don't somehow pull the plan off, and if they suddenly decide that this team isn't good enough, they can just wipe them out and start again. It's a big fat mess and more things keep going wrong, and more things keep getting revealed and complicating everything all over again. Like I said, big fat mess. But I'm still really interested, so that's a good thing right?

I love Toni Collette and Dylan McDermott. Special mentions to Tate Donovan, Mateus Ward and Quinn Shephard who play the rest of the Sanders family; Rhys Coiro (Entourage), Sandrine Holt and Billy Brown (Sons of Anarchy) as the team holding them hostage, Francie Swift (Gossip Girl) as Duncan's ailing wife; and Joanne Kelly (Warehouse 13) and Brian White (Cabin in the Woods, Beauty and the Beast) who are the big guns hiring people to kill the president.

4 out of 5 balaclavas...

TV: Sons of Anarchy SE6 EP13

Sons of Anarchy
Crime, Drama, Thriller

Firstly, HOLY SHIT!!!!! I literally screamed and burst into tears twice in the space of three minutes. Wow, just....wow! I was thinking that the beginning of this episode was a bit slow and normal for an SOA finale... and then BAM! I am in shock...

What a season for Tara! I applaud Maggie Siff for an amazing performance, especially in the last few episodes. She will be missed and I really did feel for Tara's plight this season with being jailed and stalked, trying to get the boys out of the never ending shitsplosion that is the club, and then to finally have the solution right there, ready to go, only to be stabbed by a carving fork over a misunderstanding. Shit eh?

I knew as soon as Gemma (Katey Sagal) took Unser's (Dayton Callie) truck that she was off to find Tara... I actually thought she would have a gun ready to shoot her with but I have to say the kitchen cat fight was better. What I want to know is, did Juice (Theo Rossi) just clean up all the mess or is he planning to take the fall for this after Jax (Charlie Hunnam) just confronted him with the betrayal to Nero (Jimmy Smits) about that Dominique woman? He might take the fall just to get away from the clubs justice and to protect Gemma who saved his life when he took all those oxy last ep.

Was the DA (CCH Pounder) looking at Jax's gun as the murder weapon then? What happens now to the musical game of deals? Tara doesn't need to be cleared of that murder now so all the DA needs is someone to take the fall for the guns, right? Jax can't turn himself in and leave the boys with no one now, especially with Gemma all screwy and Wendy (Drea de Matteo) in rehab. How long will Gemma be able to hide this one?

I was so happy when Tara and Jax worked things out. That scene at the park was brilliantly shot and portrayed. Tara was so scared and the look on Jax's face was definitely something to be afraid of... and then he said something like "Be a good mother. You don't have to run anymore." Cue swoons.

I find it really hard not to blog about this show every episode - I like to keep it fresh for ya'll - but it has to be one of my favourite shows. Kurt Sutter does an amazing job writing, keeping us constantly guessing and his season long plot lines never fail to impress me. I can't wait to see what he has planned for us for the final season of this fantastic show and what he will come up with next.

If you need me I'll be the one in the corner sobbing into my pillow until next season..

5 out of 5 carving forks...

Gemma to the DA: Suck my white crack.

TV: The Walking Dead SE4 EP8

The Walking Dead
Drama, Horror, Thriller

I had to write a post on this (even though I had other plans for today's post...) for a few reasons. I've been starting to hear complaints about this show, finally! I've been saying for a while that it's too much talk and not enough zombies, even though I've read the comics and they are almost following the same story line. All the talking is just so boring! After last week's episode I heard quite a bit more whinging... "Isn't this how last season ended?" Well, yeah.

I actually had a little bit of hope for The Governor (David Morrissey) when he found that family. Though when he killed Martinez (Jose Pablo Cantillo) I thought he might go even crazier and take out everyone but the little girl. Nope, instead he goes back to the same old stuff he was up to before and rallies the new camp behind him to take out the prison. I tried so hard not to spoiler this for people who haven't read the comics... but as soon as I saw that tank, I knew it was going over the fence.

This is actually a pretty major part in the comics because this is where Rick (Andrew Lincoln) and Carl (Chandler Riggs) lose Lori and Judy (I say lose because you never actually see them die...). Of course Lori is already gone... and now so is Judy. I'm actually surprised they didn't lose more people. Hershel (Scott Wilson) was gone as soon as The Gov caught him but I am surprised he didn't kill Michonne (Danai Gurira) first. Hershel couldn't run off and The Gov did have a vendetta against her. Silly.

I've been saying for a while now that it's not about the zombies anymore; they've almost figured out a way to deal with them so that they aren't a problem. It's all about the people now, the survivors and what they will do in order to continue living. But the repeat of The Governor is silly. I hope this is the last we see of him... though I will tell you there will be others like him further down the line.

My wildcard, Daryl (Norman Reedus) is still going. Maggie (Lauren Cohan) and Glenn (Steven Yeun) have been split up. Carl and Rick are on foot. Tyreese (Chad L. Coleman) will never die! Fences are down, prison is destroyed, they are all back on the road again! Will they run into Carol (Melissa McBride) do you think? I have a feeling it wasn't her that killed those people, I think she is covering for one of the girls. Hopefully the rest of this season will be a bit more exciting.

2 out of 5 eye patches...

PS. Mid-Season Finales AGAIN! Ugh!

TV: Pretty Little Liars

Pretty Little Liars
Drama, Mystery, Thriller

This show is one of my guilty pleasures. It's like watching a teenage version of The Bold and The Beautiful mixed with Lost. I find myself always yelling at the girls for sneaking around and pulling off these massive plans when it would have been much easier if they'd just tell people what the hell is going on. I also tend to rewrite the scenes in my head as they happen... sometimes scenes just aren't realistic and I think of how I would actually do it if I were really stuck in those situations. I just watched two seasons back to back because curiosity kills a Gee and I really just want to know who A is.

Ok, so I had an inkling that Alison (Sasha Pieterse) was alive for quite a while now and finally we get confirmation at the Season 4 mid-season finale (have I mentioned how much I hate mid-season finales? That's just slack guys, you want not one but two finales a season? Ugh!). So she's been alive and doing what exactly for the last three years? Hiding from Ezra (Ian Harding)? Really?! I've been thinking for a while too that it could be one of the boyfriends playing A. I know it's not Caleb (Tyler Blackburn) because of Ravenswood (which is why I started watching this show again, I couldn't figure out how Caleb got there... at least that's all cleared up now). There was a while after Spencer (Troian Bellisario) caught Toby (Keegan Allen) in the hoodie that I thought he was A, but now he's gone all soft... disappointing. But never did it even occur to me that Ezra might be involved!

I thought as well that maybe one of the girls might have been A. I remember my first suspicion was Aria (Lucy Hale) because, well; A and no one would suspect her, ever. Then Spencer went off the rails for a while after finding supposedly dead Toby in the woods and I thought maybe she had turned for real... but of course it was only about finding Toby then. Hanna (Ashley Benson) might be doing it to get back at everyone for calling her fat and not hanging out with her (I know, I rolled my eyes at that sentence too). I don't know why Emily (Shay Mitchell) could be considered... maybe just that is enough to put her under suspicion.

Let's not forget Jenna (Aussie Tammin Sursok) and being all tangled up with Shana (Aeriel Miranda); what is really going on there and who smacked her over the back of the head and left her to drown? Is the other Red Coat CeCe (Vanessa Ray)? Why did she run from Wilden (Bryce Johnson) and who really killed him? Where have Mona (Janel Parrish) and Jason (Drew Van Acker) gone? Speaking of Jason, that older generation actually have some idea what's happening... so next on the never ending list of suspects is Spencer's sister Mellissa (Torrey DeVitto) and her ex-fiance Wren (Julian Morris). What in the world do they know?

I am so freaking confused, dying of curiosity and a little dazed by how ridiculously good looking everyone in this show is... I'm ashamedly addicted and cannot wait 'til January when the season resumes. Meanwhile, I now understand how Caleb ended up in Ravenswood. Guess I'll continue with that...

3 out of 5 Hansels...

(He's so hot right now!)