Trolljegeren / The Troll Hunter (2010)

basics...
A Norwegian 'found-footage' comedy-horror about trolls you say? I'm there! 

brilliant...
The Troll Hunter would be an excellent companion piece to the Finnish Rare Exports about killer santas. Both share a Scandinavian attitude to dark humour and feature 'mythical' beasties. And both are hilarious and, to a lesser extent, scary features that will no doubt suffer in inevitable US remakes. Troll Hunter's claim to be cobbled together from real life footage that has been recently discovered adds to the sense of silly reality that has a college film crew follow a man they think is a bear poacher... and turns out to be an employee of the government's secretive TSS (Troll Security Service). Hans (Otto Jesperson) is tired of the bureaucracy of troll hunting, and he's happy for the film crew to expose the badly paid profession and thus the reality of the existence of trolls to the Norwegian public. The film is full of great comic touches, from the TSS' use a Polish team to supply dead bears with which to create a cover story for suspicious deaths, to Hans' medieval armour used in troll baiting. The trolls themselves are effective and work well in the medium of shaky cameras as they're a much more sinister presence when not seen clearly. A great deal of thought has also gone into the designs of each troll, and the behaviour of the species, making these lumpy giants more than just mindless killers - it turns out they have rabies, so there's a real reason why they've suddenly started straying from their enclosures.

briefly...
Funny, scary, intelligent and Scandinavian. There was little chance I wouldn't enjoy this!

Torchwood: Miracle Day (2011)

basics...
Captain Jack (John Barrowman) and Gwen Cooper (Eve Myles) are called out of retirement when 'Miracle Day' happens... and everyone on earth becomes immortal, except for Jack. Cue CIA assistance, a death row paedo, incineration units and a whole host of bad guys and evil stuff for international Torchwood to deal with.

bollocks...
Torchwood's first and second series were patchy affairs at best, with unlikable characters, gratuitous plots and a general air of trying too hard to be 'adult' in comparison to Doctor Who. Series 3, Children of Earth, was properly brilliant, a serialised, single story, with real menace and heart. Miracle Day, the first Torchwood American-UK co-production has a bigger budget than the previous series, and mixes the best and worst of what has gone before - so there's an imaginative, genuinely intriguing plot catalyst, with lots of interesting ideas (what would be the implications for society and the planet if no one died anymore?), but played out with more unlikable (American) characters, streaks of nastiness and a whole lot of nonsensical explanations. 

Miracle Day wasn't a complete disaster, but it was also no where near as good as Children of Earth. Jack and Gwen were reliably ballsy and funny, when they got a chance to be. There was far too much time spent with angry, shouty Rex Matheson (Mekhi Phifer) and pathetic Esther Drummond (Alexa Havins). And then there was the utterly pointless story of Oswald Danes (a creepy Bill Pullman), a convicted child killer - were we ever supposed to feel sympathy for this character? He got grandiose speeches about not very much and kept popping up at odd times - and once the whole purpose behind the miracle was explained... well there still didn't seem to be any point in his manipulation by the Blessing. Likable Dr Vera Juarez (Arlene Tur) was dispatched far too early on, while sledge-hammer subtle Rex and useless Esther hung around til the end, and sadly one of them remained. 

but...
Ok, it wasn't all bad, and that was mainly down to the Welsh/British sense of humour that didn't appear often enough, and some great guest casting, chief among them Lauren Ambrose as Jilly Kitzinger. A world away from Six Feet Under, Ambrose lit up her every scene and made her character much more interesting than she had any right to be - especially when, like Danes, there appeared to be absolutely zero point in her being co-opted by the families, except perhaps to act as a way in for the viewer. It's implied she'll come back should this mess be given another series, so that's potentially good news. Kai Owen's return as Gwen's long-suffering husband also offered a welcome breath of light air in his too-few scenes, as did new character Allen Shapiro (John de Lancie) - so naturally the funny, likable CIA guy was blown up. Torchwood doesn't like to keep personable characters around, just the obnoxious ones.

briefly...
A truly original premise that promised big things is let down by traditional Torchwood nastiness and hokey explanations. If this comes back, and I'm not bothered if it doesn't (I mainly watch it for Doctor Who continuity!), lets hope lessons will have been learned. 

The Conspiracy Club (Jonathan Kellerman, 2003)

basics...
A one-off thriller from the writer of the Alex Delaware series, Kellerman's The Conspiracy Club sees psychologist Dr Jeremy Carrier's tentative investigation into a series of killings which may have included his ex-girlfriend. He is directed and assisted by an elusive group of elders who provide clues and wait for Carrier to discovery the truth and help to deliver justice. 

brilliant...
There's no traditional crime happens, crime is solved by investigation in this book, mainly because the protagonist is for the most part going about his life and only unwittingly drawn into the plot by external forces. He's trying to move on from his girlfriend's death by building a new relationship, and continuing to help his patients. This provides an interesting take on the usual crime fiction tropes, and it allows for a great sense of mystery and intrigue. Carrier is a believable, flawed lead, whose reluctance to get involved is tempered by a healthy curiosity that translates into an intriguing hunt that had me turning the pages and finishing the book in days.

but...
The club of the book's title are fairly peripheral for much of the story, and I did wonder why they didn't just get on and solve the mystery themselves, or why they didn't just sit Carrier down and explain everything instead of leaking bits of clues in mysterious envelopes. Of course that would've made for a much shorter, boring book.

briefly...
Although not a great deal of action happens, I found this book to be a fast paced thriller with human protagonists.

Wallander: Series 2 (2009-10)

basics...
Picking up 3 years after the end of the first series, Krister Henriksson's final 13 cases as Kurt Wallander see the dour Swedish detective and his team in a new police house, with a couple of new cadets, Isabelle (Nina Zanjani) and Pontus (Sverrir Gudnason) and resident police prosecutor Katarina (Lena Endre), and a whole host of new crimes to solve. 

brilliant...
Wallander is back and as good as if not better than ever. Sadly lacking Johanna Sällström's Linda, following the actress' suicide, the show cleverly refuses to explain away Kurt's daughter's absence, but it is implied that she's dead - the real life tragedy gives Henriksson's portrayal as Kurt an added depth. Kurt clearly sees something of Linda in Isabelle, making him over protective of her creating some nice relationships fairly quickly with the new recruits. Of course the main relationship this series is Kurt and Katarina's will-they-won't-they attraction that is never resolved on screen. Endre provides an excellent counterpoint to Kurt and the pair are a joy to watch, whether flirting or arguing - Kurt does a good line in jealousy too. 

The other new guy, Pontus, is a hottie, and he's also got issues that thankfully don't lead him to the extremes of Stefan in the first series, though he does get beaten up and shot a lot. Nyberg (Mats Bergman) provides excellent comic relief, and in one scene, where he hugs a post-explosion Kurt, proves to be an emotional presence. With Linda gone, the focus of this series is more firmly on Kurt, allowing the character to develop further than in the first series, in his relationships with colleagues, with new dog, Jussi, and with his job, which he realises has taken over his life. The cases this season are exciting, grisly and occasionally controversial, with shootings, explosions and gas-emitting flowers adding to the excitement.

but...
There's no more Wallander! The final episode felt like a fitting end to the series, with Kurt provided a truthful and welcome conclusion that sees him finally choose his own happiness with Katarina over the job. If I had to pick an actual fault with the series it would only be that the villains all too often turned out to be foreign, whether German, Polish or Lithuanian. But that's only a minor niggle in what was an astonishingly brilliant series.

briefly...
Superior Swedish drama, with excitement, heart and a few laughs, featuring top rate acting talent. There's going to be a Wallander-shaped hole in my viewing schedule.

The Big Bang Theory: Season 4 (2010-2011)

basics...
The continuing adventures of the loveable geeky misfits and their hot neighbour... now with added cast members!

brilliant...
The Big Bang Theory's masterstroke in Season 4 was the introduction (at the end of last season) of Mayim Bialik as Amy Farrah Fowler. Growing from her beginnings as a female version of Sheldon to become 'bestie's with Penny (Kaley Cuoco) and fellow new 'star' Bernadette (Melissa Rauch), and thereby creating a whole new dynamic with opportunities for even more laughs, every word out of Amy's mouth was comedy gold. Bialik (who used to be Blossom!) shines every moment she has on screen, and I miss her when she's either absent in an episode, or confined to webchat with Sheldon (Jim Parsons). Of course, the guys are all still hilarious, with Leonard (Johnny Galecki) finding a new girlfriend in Raj's (Kunal Nayyar) sister and Howard (Simon Helberg) moving his relationship with Bernard on towards marriage.

but...
While Howard, Leonard and, to an extent, Sheldon all get to develop in terms of their relationships with women, Raj is sadly left to his own devices. I want to see him happy next season! Although he is just as funny solo. Oh and Raj's sister has a somewhat thankless task, coming between Penny and Leonard - she's the equivalent of Emily in Friends.

briefly...
One of my favourite sitcoms becomes even funnier with the introduction of Amy Farrah Fowler - long may she continue to shine!

Glorious 39 (2009)

basics...
A very British tale of an upper class family on the eve of the Second World War. Adopted daughter Anne (Romola Garai) begins to suspect that some of her nearest and dearest may be involved in plots to promote appeasement of Germany and keep Britain out of the war. 

brilliant...
Stylish and faultlessly acted, as you'd expect from a BBC production starring Bill Nighy, David Tennant, Hugh Bonneville and the ubiquitous Christopher Lee, Glorious 39 doesn't exactly zip along. Rather, the story unfolds slowly, with some very sinister plot work that has Anne and the audience confused. I suspected certain members of the family as being bad guys, but not necessarily all of them! I really enjoyed Bonneville's performance as a jovial, struggling film extra, and Nighy was so charming throughout I still find it hard to believe he was a wrong 'un... but was he? The family's reasons for supporting appeasement appeared fairly rational, it was their methods - subterfuge and murder - that went over the line. A thought-provoking piece.

but...
Just how did Anne's creepy nephew (who grew into Lee) keep appearing like that, as if he was some sort of supernatural bogeyman? These bits jarred a bit with the realisitic drama, but I suppose they could be explained away through a sketchy memory on the part of the two characters telling the story. 

briefly...
A slick period drama with an unsettling theme and execution. 

The English Patient (Michael Ondaatje, 1992)

basics...
I really liked the movie adaptation of The English Patient, and the original Booker Prize winning novel was part of the Picador Thirty set that included Foetal Attraction and American Psycho, so I picked it up next. The book tells the story of a group of people inhabiting a deserted hospital in Italy at the end of World War Two, including an Indian sapper, a Canadian nurse, a thief and the titular burns victim. 

brilliant...but...
It took me some time to get to grips with this novel, and Ondaatje's fractured style - passages pass backwards and forwards in time, telling different characters' stories, and it's not always easier to work out either time or person. Over halfway through I started to enjoy it as the narrative became easier to follow and backstories unravelled. Although I seem to remember the movie being more about the English Patient and his tragic backstory, the book is as much about every other character as him. I actually found Kip, the Indian sapper, and his story more interesting, bringing with it interesting perspectives on the war and indeed on the British 'occupation' of his home country. This isn't a book I would recommend easily, I'd start with the movie first, whereas Andrew's just finished the hilarious Foetal Attraction on my recommendation.

briefly...
Too stylised to enjoy initially, The English Patient eventually becomes a touching set of character pieces interwoven with historical accuracy. 

What Should I Do With My Life? (Po Bronson, 2003)

basics...
In need of some direction and inspiration for where my life is going I picked up this wonderfully titled book by the oddly named Po Bronson. It turned out to be full of real life stories of people who have changed career or found their calling, or simply just done something different with their lives. 

brilliant...
Bronson's approach divides the stories into useful sections, some deal with the question alongside other commitments like family, others with what it means to find fulfilment in a job, and whether you should actively seek out opportunities that could lead to failure. The author also gets involved in the stories, as in he goes and visits with each person, and he offers comment on their choices but without judgement (much). The book therefore made me think a bit more creatively about my future and what it is I might like to do, and more importantly, the stories encouraged me not to give up hope, that the right job could come along by accident, although it helps to explore possibilities. While I didn't put the book down knowing the answer to the title's question, I'm more confident about being able to figure it out and enjoy doing so. While reading the book I've begun volunteering at the Playhouse, and I'm about to begin a second Open University course, on creative writing - I'm not sure I consciously did these things as a direct result of my reading this work, but it may have helped.
briefly...
A thought-provoking work, with a range of interesting people leading varied and fulfilling lives - a real piece of inspiration to ponder as I go. 

StreetDance (2010)

basics...
A couple of hours before I left the house to go and see Northern Ballet's Hamlet I watched a film involving ballet... well, it was StreetDance, the British dance film about a group of street dancers who are co-opted by a groovy ballet teacher to help her students learn how to let loose and stop being so stiff and formal. 

brilliant...
This film is in no way 'brilliant' but it is also no where near as cringey or terrible as I thought it might be, especially since it stars a lot of 'youth' with all the bad fashion and mangled English language that that implies, and follows the standard little-group-who-could format as seen in Coyote Ugly, Step Up and all those other recent dance movies (none of which I've seen). I felt quite old watching the film, yet I enjoyed it as there was a real sense of fun and a lot of skill on display. Britain's Got Talent alumni Diversity and cute George Samson featured, the latter pulling off some incredible moves, but the star for me wasn't northern street dancer Carly (Nichola Burley), it was the hot ballet dancer love interest Tomas (Richard Winsor). Now I've seen Winsor live in Matthew Bourne's modern dance version of The Picture of Dorian Grey in Edinburgh on 29/08/08, and he was hot there. He's even better close up wearing tight ballet outfits and often topless. Nom nom nom indeed. I'm so shallow. 

but...
To criticise StreetDance for a lack of originality would be missing the point, as it exists to provide an audience with exactly what they want. There could have been a bit more in the way of humour or maybe a few bits of stunt casting with the adult characters. 

briefly...
A film that does what it sets out to do: features a lot of dancing; and one that does it very well with a likable bunch of characters and a pretty lead who can act as well as dance.

Hamlet (WYP, 10/09/11)

basics...
It's only a few short months since I last saw a production of Hamlet at the Playhouse, but I found myself at another last weekend - a ballet version no less. I saw this in my new capacity as a front of house volunteer at the theatre, which means in return for standing around for a bit showing people to their seats at the beginning and during the interval, I get to sit and watch a play for free! 

brilliant...
I'm sure the dancing was excellent, and there were some genuinely exciting bits. However...

but...
I didn't hate the show, but as my last trip to the ballet taught me, I'm not a fan. I like words. And I know Hamlet - this was a very strange version. It was set in Nazi occupied France rather than Denmark - I only worked this out at the end when Fortinbrass liberated the country as the beginning 20 mins was a confusing mess. At least it was to someone who knows the play and didn't recognise what was going on or who was who. I also don't remember Ophelia getting gang-raped and then murdered in the play... I'm all for new interpretations of Shakespeare but being a ballet was new enough without causing more confusion by playing with key elements of the story. 

briefly...
Probably great if you like ballet. I don't. I enjoyed it more because I didn't have to pay to see it. Ballet really is just posh mime.

Shameless: Season 1 (2011)

basics...
The long-awaited American remake of Channel 4's long-running chav soap opera. Starring William H. Macy.

brilliant...
I wasn't expecting to like 'Shameless USA' as it's billed over here, as I have enjoyed the British original for so long. I don't think it's just because the original version appears to be running out of steam (and Gallaghers), but the remake seems so much better and more enjoyable on many levels. Following the first series of the UK version pretty faithfully to begin with, USA soon becomes its own beast with new storylines and incredibly fun performances - and it never descends into the pantomime that the UK series has become. The emphasis is on the drama in this comedy-drama, but there's still time for laughs.

Every cast member is so good you forget their British forebears, and they're not just great actors, most are much prettier too, particularly Lip (Jeremey Allen White), Steve (Justin Chatwin) and Ian (Cameron Monaghan) - the latter's gay storyline is particularly endearing. The transition to Chicago from Manchester makes for stark differences in style and setting, with perpetually snowy streets and a poor white trash sensibility that feels utterly authentic. Even Macy is a great Frank Gallagher, who could sit comfortably alongside David Threlfall's excellent original. Joan Cusack is wonderfully dippy as agrophobic Shiela too. The heart of US Shameless is undoubtably Emmy Rossum's Fiona, the eldest sibling who holds the family together, puts food on the table and also has to deal with Steve's overtures for her affection. Rossum brings much raw emotional depth to the character and thus the series and I hope she stays with the show, and that it continues for a long time without sacrificing the drama.

but...
While Cusack is a gem, I wonder what Sheila would have been like with the incomparable Allison Janney in the role, as she was in the (unbroadcast) pilot?

briefly...
An American remake that is every bit as good as the original series, and compared with the current output of its progenitor, its even better.

The Night Watch (2011)

basics...
Based on the Sarah Waters novel, The Night Watch was a feature-length BBC production that follows several characters, mostly lesbians, during the second World War. The conceit is that the story's told backwards, so we see the fall out of various events, and then go back a few years to find out what said events were, and then back a bit further to find out more. 

brilliant...
Andrew wanted to watch this because he's a fan of Sarah Waters, whereas I was more intrigued by the roster of strong British actresses - Claire Foy (sullen in The Promise, a little lighter here), Jodie Whittaker (a magnetic presence, last seen in Marchlands), and Anna Maxwell Martin (don't know what I've seen her in, but reminds me of Nicola Walker from Spooks) - plus cute Harry Treadaway. I enjoyed the recreation of war torn London, and there were some curious mysteries, not to mention a lot of non-heterosexual relationships to enjoy. 

but...
The Night Watch suffered from being too short, I think it would've worked much better as a 3 part series, with each part assigned a different year, so that I could find more to care about in the characters. Although it wasn't that I didn't care, I just didn't have too much time as there were many characters and only a short time in which to tell their stories. I enjoyed the film, but felt that there was a mini-series crying to get out. There was also far too much female nudity and no male nakedness to speak of. Fail. 

briefly...
A classy mystery with a cast of excellent future stars, suffers mainly by being too short.

The Shadow (1994)

basics...
A superhero movie from a time when there wasn't one every two weeks, i.e. the 1990's, The Shadow sees Alec Baldwin's bizarrely named Lamont Cranston taking on a descendant of Genghis Khan in order to save the world. He does this by using a odd set of powers taught to him by a monk back in the days this American hero was a warlord in China...

brilliant...
A synopsis of this film makes little sense, so it's a wonder that the plot holds together. That any of this works at all is down to some great casting, not least in Baldwin's charming (anti?)hero - he's ably supported by turns from hammy Tim Curry, funny Peter Boyle and pre-Gandalf/Magneto Ian McKellen. It was these names that drew me to the film, plus I have a soft spot for superhero movies of course. And it was for these names that I stayed. 

but...
Aside from a prologue that was mirrored years later in Batman Begins, the film The Shadow most reminded me of was Dick Tracy - both obviously had a lot of money spent on effects and guest cast, and little attention paid to scripts and anything more than an average finished product. There's just something about The Shadow that doesn't work, and the fault seems to lie with the titular hero, who we meet ordering a man's death and than are expected to root for as he goes about fighting crime. And while Baldwin would prove hilarious decades later in TV's 30 Rock, here he's not given material to really bring out his inner comic. I can't believe that David Koepp - writer of Jurassic Park - scripted this mess. But it's not all bad, there are worse ways to pass 2 hours. 

briefly...
A Dick Tracy-style mess of style and little substance, The Shadow could have done with being a lot darker, like a certain Knight, or keeping it light all through, á la Batman & Robin. 

The Shadow Man (John Katzenbach, 1995)

basics...
The second book in the John Katzenbach Omnibus, like In The Heat of the Summer, The Shadow Man is set in humid Miami, Florida and features a killer, but of a very different nature. The titular antagonist is a war criminal from Nazi Germany, responsible for sending many Jews to concentration camps, and is now picking off elderly survivors many miles away and decades later. Retired cop Simon Winter teams up with Detective Walter Robinson and DA Espy Martinez to try to piece together the identity of the mysterious killer. 

brilliant...
The Shadow Man's background in real life atrocities sets this novel apart, and allows Katzenbach to provide a brief history lesson alongside the traditional serial-killer-crime-novel thrills. This lends a depth to the story without feeling sensationalist or exploitative. I liked the different perspectives that the 3 lead characters had on events, particularly Winter, who is a neighbour to the first victim, and in the opening chapter his plans for suicide are interrupted by the plot kicking in. Immediately Winter has an intriguing back story and personality, although I guessed from his suicide attempt that he might not make it to the last page of the book. The old detective's belief in the Shadow Man contrasts with Dt. Robinson's no-nonsense approach to deaths that appear to be cut and dried robbery-homicides or suicides. There are interesting supporting characters too, in the form of the black drug addict framed for one of the murders, and the rabbi who is holding strong in his determination to beat the old Nazi killer. 

but...
Unlike In the Heat of the Summer, I felt that The Shadow Man could have been a bit shorter. I lost a bit of interest partway through, but things picked up with an excellent climax. 

briefly...
A solid serial killer chiller with added depth and historical perspective.

Beaver Falls (2011)

basics...

Three British friends con their way into positions at the titular Californian summer camp, find themselves looking after the 'chunk bunk' and pursue some of their sexy American colleagues.  

brilliant...
The adverts and the title almost put me off Beaver Falls, which I thought was going to be a feeble gross-out, sub-Inbetweeners, juvenile mess. Luckily, I got past these things and found a show that turned out to be funny, full of beautiful people and realistic characters, and more than that - it had an unexpected heart. Hot lothario Flynn (Sam Robertson) initially shagged his way around the camp, only to reveal to camp counsellor Rachel (Kristen Gutoskie) that he is suffering a terminal disease and so is getting laid while he still can. Nerd Barry (John Dagleish) has his sights set on Kimberley (Natasha Loring), who already has a dumb jock boyfriend, but Barry shows that wit and intelligence win out. Love-lorn A-Rab (Arsher Ali) was dumped by his British girlfriend and spends most of his time pining for her while developing feelings for Rachel. Each lead character has an interesting arc, while there is also plenty for the supporting cast of 'fatties' to do, both in terms of comedy and learning to love themselves without any mawkishness. I think the main reason that Beaver Falls gets away without being too sentimental is through the fact it's British made, so humour and reality trumps Hollywood-style endings.


but...
I suppose sometimes the drama outweighed the comedy, or the laughs weren't strong enough at times, but overall the show worked. Oh and a couple of story points you could see coming a mile off, such as Rachel and Flynn getting together. 

briefly...
A fun, sexy British show with a glossy, hot American setting, with an emotional set of storylines and likable, believable characters that outgrow their traditional genre stereotypes.

Parlez-moi de la pluie / Let's Talk About the Rain (2008)

basics...

Billed as a French 'comedy' alongside a 4/5 star review in Radio Times, Let's Talk About the Rain was a typically leisurely comedy-drama where very little happened. A young guy and his mentor decide to make a film about strong women, and interview a local political candidate. 

brilliant...

Certain bits of the film were funny. And the scenery was beautiful. There was some really good character work as well - which is a good job as there was little plot. 

but...

Less pretentious and navel-gazey than a lot of French fare, Rain was still ponderous, plotless and ultimately pointless. The main thing you take away is 'was that it?'. And to bill this as a comedy is stretching things a bit. More like a drama with a few funny lines. 

briefly...

A missable movie whose title is as divorced from the story as the laughs.