NEWS: Thundercats Are Back!

Thundercats are on the loose and look really ... really ... crap. In a strange way they look a bit Final Fantasy Japanimation-ish but let's wait and see. The trailer offers up something a bit different and the original Lion-o voice will cameo. I quite like the trailer, especially the epic music, but the actual characters just look a bit shoddy in my opinion. Hopefully it'll be a bit darker and perhaps some lessons were learnt after Naruto has taken over half the world. Look out for it on Cartoon Network!

Seinfeld

It's one of the most successful sitcoms of all time and was the number one show in America for a huge amount of time. But after finally sitting down through all 9 seasons and watching each episode after another, how does it 'stand up'? (Jerry being a stand-up - get it?)


I have a funny relationship with Seinfeld. Not literally. But because whenever it was on in the past, I hated the cheesy studio laughter, the over-acting, just the ... Americaness of it all. Whenever it was on, I would try to watch it but Jerry's smug face, the way they dressed, Kramer's idiotic physical humour, it all just bugged me. So why return to it?

The reason why is because I'm such a huge Curb Your Enthusiasm fan, and because this is what Larry David is known for, and because the last season I just watched was about doing a reunion episode, I thought I would give it a go. It's hard to sum up the huge amounts of episodes in one article, but I just could not be naffed to write a review after each season seeing as there is no real arc to each one. They just kind of hop on from one to the other.

The original idea of the sitcom was showing Jerry's stand-up and how he gets his jokes from his everyday life. Simple and safe. But then it goes all wacky as it gets a bit post-modern as Jerry's character gets asked to do his own show. Then the stand up kind of takes a backseat as the sitcom element progresses. You soon see Jerry not as the Jerry Seinfeld in interviews etc. but as a caricature of himself, and it's a bit strange. However, that aside, it really does work and about 80-90% of the episodes are funnier than whats on TV right now and since ... ever. There are some dips in quality and some jokes get a bit far fetched as they occasionally lose the 'realism' and go for all out ridiculous but that's what makes it fun. All the characters progress, apart from Jerry really, which is strange but then even though it's Seinfeld on the box, it's Seinfeld's face all over the place, I'd argue the entire sitcom is really about George.

What makes the show really work is George, loosely based on Larry David himself, and his OTT outbursts, his general behaviour, his selfishness, his self-deprecating character is something completely unique and that I haven't seen before or since. Apart from Curb. Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong and even though you hate the little shit, there's part of you that empathises with him and his everyday struggles through life. He's not just a counterbalance for Jerry, he's a monster in his own right and is the real star of the show played exquisitely by Jason Alexander.

Elaine I could give or take, she was a good blokey girl that was still effeminate but was a serious bitch sometimes and, to be honest, was a bit of a slut as well. Her dress sense and hairstyles were pretty bad, but got better towards the end yet she was just something to keep the female audience members happy. She worked well, but often I couldn't stand her.

Kramer, played by Michael Richards (who since the 'nigger' remark seems to be slightly downbeat all the time - maybe he was always like that - maybe he's just troubled?) is a character that evolves the most during the 9 years of the series. He starts off as a bumbling hairy weird neighbour, to a slightly retarded goofball, to a wise almost Zen-like lover of life. At first I couldn't stand his stupid falls, ridiculous Three Stooges-like behaviour but he soon develops into a character that people love like they love a big dog. After a while, and after some semi-serious Kramer storylines, I found him both repetitive, almost tiring to watch and just a way to keep the energy up.

The other characters are played wonderfully and it has a complete set of celebrities who you will recognise from all kinds of shows, but my favourite auxiliary character is a close tie between Jerry Stiller as George's dad and Wayne Knight as Newman - both of which could carry a series by themselves. Everyone knows Jerry Stiller as Ben Stiller's father and it's no wonder his kid became the king of modern comedy, Jerry Stiller has got to be an absolute master at comedy and it shows. Newman is different in that, not only is he the fat guy, but he is genuinely the greatest B character in a sitcom. Every time he turns up you know you're going to get comedy gold and it's just a shame the series didn't continue for that alone. It's also the same for character Putty, better known as Joe from Family Guy these days - if you think Joe is funny, check him out in this.

Each episode is written masterfully with the wit and humour that can only come from Larry David and Seinfeld himself. Jerry might not be the most likeable character, in fact he's a watered down, more socially acceptable version of George really, but his holier than thou demeanour and the fact that he's also a bit of a cock just can't seem to tarnish the straight-cut, good guy, 'aw shucks' character that he seems to embellish so well. It's in fact what makes the show work, it's like Jerry is in on the joke with the audience, he knows it's all one big laugh and you can laugh with him, by being somewhat unprofessional he is instead bringing the audience onto the set with him. It's what is known as talent and the annoying thing about it is, is that he's just so fucking funny. All the jokes are ridiculously funny and I found myself almost crying at some stages - it really cracked me up.

However, I do have some issues with it. Funnily enough, it's the same problems I came into it with. Sometimes it can be really cheesy, and yet even though it deals with some controversial issues in a distasteful manner that you'd never think would be allowed on mainstream TV, it does occasionally feel like a forced sitcom. However, that could be because it has been going since 1989. It all can feel just a little bit too American and some jokes are a bit too easy, like the Kramer ones. Some episodes I also found quite boring and even though the highs were high, sometimes the lows were pretty low.

Overall, this is a must-see series that will outshine a lot of sitcoms out there and to believe that some of the material wound up to be prime-time mainstream TV is outrageous. I've a feeling some of that stuff would never get a prime-time airing now and especially over here. However, even though the jokes still ring true and are still fresh, the series can sometimes feel dated. It's a piece of work that continues to get better as it progresses but fails on the final episode. A strange reminiscence of all the characters in a weird court case that feels so forced, unnatural and awkward, that it ruins the whole experience and leaves the audience with a sour taste in its mouth. It's a disappointing end to such an incredible series that started as a cult and went mainstream with a huge 70 million people tuning in to the finale. Think about that, 70 million. However, I have to admit that, as a series, I like Curb Your Enthusiasm better - it's like all the George bits without the other distractions; therefore, even though it's great, it's not perfect.

Rating: 8/10

Salt

Angelina Jolie goes back to her Tomb Raider roots for another action flick that promised to be the next Bourne for chicks. But is it worth it's salt?

There had been a lot of hype around this film before it's release. It promised to be a global spy thriller that would make James Bond fans blush as Angelina Jolie kicks some ass. But once I heard Phillip Noyce was directing, the cracks started to show. The man had a lot of ups and downs with mediocre films - Dead Calm, Sliver, Patriot Games, Rabbit-Proof Fence, The Quiet American, The Saint - all of which could be equally accused of being shit or enjoyable, depending on your tastes. I am one of the latter having enjoyed the chills of Dead Calm, the sexiness of Stone in Sliver and even thought The Saint was alright, there was an air of the Nineties about his work that I enjoyed. But I don't think there's much controversy on how awful Salt is.

Let's start with the story, Jolie is a CIA agent that is accused of being a Russian spy, so she goes on the run. That's just the beginning in a plot of twists and turns that surpass ridiculous and venture into near-insanity, but with a driving force like Jolie behind it, then surely she'll keep it all grounded right? Well, no. In fact after the first 15 minutes, she doesn't really say much or expose any emotion at all. It doesn't come across as subterfuge but rather indifference. It seems Jolie just doesn't care how her character comes across, she blazes her way from one scenario to the next without letting the audience, or anyone at all, into what she's doing. This isolation might need to work in terms of the story, but surely some more dialogue would help? It would at least make it more credible. I don't mind being confused as long as people are talking about it rather than ignoring everyone.

The film is non-stop action and I was completely bored. I had no emotional investment in any of the characters and couldn't care less if Jolie died at any point. At some points, I would imagine the audience would think she deserves it! Her callousness towards shooting the police yet the audience's wish to sympathise with her and the plot twists made me give up after a little while and so I just sat back and watched it play out without any interest whatsoever.

I'd heard people were worried about Jolie's weight during the filming and I'm not surprised. She is so thin that I doubt she could lift her arms let alone knock a guy out. The stunt men have to really work hard to make it look like she is tough but believe me, if she knocked me with her arm against the wall, I might be slightly shocked but not unconscious - and I'm not even hard. They could have made her more acrobatic to justify it somewhat but it seems she relies on her strength for most of the fighting, which is stupid.

I also couldn't help but think how much better Tom Cruise would have played the role as he was first choice but it proves again that Jolie hasn't got the acting chops to deliver consistent results. I liked her work in Girl, Interrupted, I liked her in Changeling and who didn't like her in Hackers? But it seems as if all the energy has been pulled out of her and in an action film that doesn't really cut it. Let's be honest everyone, Angelina Jolie is quite a shit actress. Which brings me on to the ever-lovable Liev Schrieber who is just waiting to get those big roles coming in - which is deserving as, even though he pretty much plays the same character as he did in Repo Men, it still shows that he can do his bit. In fact the entire rest of the cast were the only ones keeping it together. Ejiofor again shows how well our young British actors can fare overseas and even unknown (in Western cinemas anyway) Daniel Olbrychski as the Russian turncoat plays a mean part. He is apparently known for his Bale-like temper and legend has it that he rides horses through towns. It's even been reported that a picture of him in a contemporary art exhibition put him in an SS uniform, so he got a TV crew and a saber and cut up the painting. This has nothing to do with the film, it's just cool.

So for an action film, what's the action like? Well, it's alright. It's not anywhere near Jason Bourne status and for the sheer scale of it, it didn't feel like anything special. In fact, I felt I was waiting more for the action to finish so I could understand what was going on rather than enjoying it. It also had moments of stupidity that I can't forgive such as Jolie dressed up as a rather effeminate young man, wearing a stereotypically Russian outfit to be 'Russian' and the fact her husband is ugly as sin.

Overall, I hated it. I wouldn't even recommend this for the action. The plot is it's only saving grace by being a bit different, but essentially it's a load of crap trying to twist things up as far as it can in a world full of films with twists. Don't bother, there's better films to waste your time on. I'd rather have watched Tekken again - and that's saying something. Oh and there will probably be a Salt 2. Great.

Rating: 4/10

Curb Your Enthusiasm Season 7

After a disappointing sixth series, Larry David gets back on track with a post-modern take on a reunion Seinfeld show

One of the most creative and personal comedies out there, Curb Your Enthusiasm proves that when it comes to making original comedy, America has been leading the way for a while. If you don't know already, Larry David plays himself in a strange parody of his real life and if you thought The Office could be awkward, Curb takes it to a whole new level.

Without ruining it, the series picks up where the last one left of but luckily by the second or third episode it gets going on a new path which brings Curb back to it's best. I don't know about other people, but I felt the last few seasons were a bit shit to be honest, but I thought this series was great. It deals with such touchy subjects as paedophilia, disabled people, racism and more with such great results that you can't but laugh. The end of one of the episodes when he sees a doctor about a rash is one of my favourite Curb moments, which is saying a lot. The acting is great, the stories are funny, the improv is inspirational and everything about it feels like comedy gold.

This series feels a lot more structured than previous ones as Larry, for purely selfish reasons, gets the cast of Seinfeld back to do a reunion show. This means that if you're a fan of Seinfeld as well as Curb, you're in for a real treat and even though I'm not an avid fan of the former, it still worked incredibly well. It's hard to review a comedy series without giving away the jokes so I've kept it short and sweet. If you're a big fan of Curb already, then you have to buy this but it would also please newcomers to the show as well. Larry David reigns supreme.
Pity his film with Woody Allen has been getting such bad reviews ...

Rating: 9/10

Twin Peaks

Still one of the most talked about TV series that ever graced our screens, David Lynch and Mark Frost's brainchild still influences culture today and still stands up to the test of time as we remember it 20 years on.

I remember running through the first season of Twin Peaks and loved it, but once I was finished I realised that the second series was a bit harder to get hold of. I only got about halfway through the second series and I lost interest. Now returning to it years later with the release of the Gold box set I started it again in the hope of watching the series in it's brief entirety.

When pitched, the expectations for this were low but the Twin Peaks pilot did better than anyone expected when it was finally aired and the first series was soon commissioned. Lynch had never done TV before and him and Frost decided that the murder of Laura Palmer would be a McGuffin that would introduce the rest of the town to us gradually, and the dark horror that lies beneath all of us would be slowly uncovered. The parallel storylines were intriguing as well as mesmerising but the real treat is the mainstream look into Lynch's mind, something that people find too hard to enter when it comes to films such as Mulholland Drive, Inland Empire or even Blue Velvet but it is clear that the man is nothing short of a genius and for those who doubt it, they need to watch this series.

The series introduced a lot of well-known actors into the spotlight including David Duchovny, Heather Graham, Lara Flynn Boyle, Kyle MacLachlan and Billy Zane to name but a few but had more than a few hiccups along the way. Namely, after the first series did so well, the second series soon started to see a dip in the audience and the TV network told them to reveal Laura's killer. This reveal caused a lot of friction as Lynch didn't want the audience to ever find out the killer as it was inconsequential for one and secondly, it was the overall reason that people kept watching, however Frost wanted the killer to be known at some point but not when the network wanted it, but as is always the case, the artist loses. Lynch and Frost left the show and once the killer was revealed, the series' ratings were abysmal and soon the series was cancelled. Lynch started to enter again near the end and was in charge of the final episode but apart from that, he felt that what had once been something he was proud of turned into a monster - and he was right.

Everything about the first season was perfect, it was a great balance of a soap opera and an arthouse film. The storylines were intriguing, the characters well thought out and the imagery was fantastic. Classic Lynch style is spread all over it, the suburban American 50's-esque culture, the zany fish-out-of-water element and the fucking weird shit that we're used to when we watch his work. Anyone who has ever watched it will remember The Red Room - a dream that Agent Cooper has that stars a midget talking backwards and more, and the evil that lurks in the forest called simply Bob. It's suffice to say that a lot of these storylines and revelations were caused by accident or simply making it up as they went along, but this spontaneity works remarkably well (unlike some series that try to replicate Twin Peaks like Lost).

The running story is that we are all trying to find out what happened to Laura Palmer and we see that the girl next door is actually quite a dark character. But soon, there's so many interesting things going on, you get hooked and then it's got you by the balls as you are led deeper into the forests surrounding the small town. The brothel 'One Eyed Jacks', the visions Sarah Palmer is having, the recluse and his secret diary of Laura's, what happened in that train car, Big Ed's affair, Ben Horne and Leo Johnson's business, and the Log Lady. This is just the tip of the iceberg in a series that keeps you guessing and, instead of something like Lost which you want to know answers for, in Twin Peaks you're afraid what the answers will bring. There will also be no other show that will spend more than ten minutes of near silence as a man serves some milk to a man recently shot. It took risks, it thought outside of the box and it's something that, especially in this economy, will never happen again in a TV drama.

However, the second series completely ruins this idyllic dream and soon, as Lynch and Frost abandon the audience, you are left with a soap opera as cheesy as any other daytime serial (James Hurley's storyline of the open road is cringeworthy at best). The characters end up in places that are sheer stupid, and all those big things you held out for end up in huge disappointment. For instance, Nadine has an eyepatch, is completely crazy but yet remarkably strong - you are left to wonder why she has a patch and why she is so strong, that it will reveal itself in a huge way or even better not at all, that it might do with something in this strange town and play a part later on; but instead it is simply revealed and brushed aside during this second series. It starts well enough but you can almost pinpoint the exact moment of where it is going wrong, and all the characters change for the worse. Audrey goes from loony sexy teen to career woman, Lara Flynn Boyle looks like she can't be bothered anymore and goes from rebel girl to dancing queen, Ben Horne goes from entrepreneur with a strange brother to a loony civil war nut, and don't get me started on the whole Jocelyn and the mill storyline. It is clear they are trying to tie up loose ends Lynch left unanswered and trying to re-create a more standard series, which not only disappoints the audience who have stayed with it, but will fail to bring anyone on board to the same old tripe they could see anywhere. Any weird stuff is just a rehash of what Lynch introduced first time round and it all becomes a big mess. They try to reason everything and in doing so take all the fun out of the series.

Fortunately, the final episode where Cooper enters The Red Room again is a masterpiece that is more fitting to the first season than ever. It's half an hour or so of some very strange stuff and thank God it left the series on an absolute high, for had it been left to the writers beforehand, it would have been ruined in my mind forever. For those yet to watch it, I would watch the entire first season, about 5 or 6 episodes of the second season and then return to the final episode because all that stuff in-between will ruin it all. If you see it and think differently let me know, but I guarantee you won't. Regardless, this is one piece of television history that people will remember fondly and if you think all this TV on now is revolutionary, you should see what Lynch was doing two decades ago.

Rating:
First Series - 10/10
Second Series - 5/10

Overall - 9/10

The Shield Season Six

Having survived the wrath of Internal Affairs, can Mackey and his team seek revenge for a fallen comrade? 'Leave sleeping dogs lie' isn't exactly the Strike Team's motto ...

What with an annoyingly frustrating fifth season behind them, The Shield lets loose with all that pent up anger it's been holding back on for the last few episodes. What I didn't realise is that what was going to be one whole series instead got stretched out and turned into two, which looking back on the fifth series, is probably why it didn't quite work so well. If this had been cut down and originally stayed as one series, it would have been incredible, instead everything felt too long and so now, series 6 makes up for it.

It's as if the Strike Team has been completely pushed over the edge and we're watching them tumble down in a chaotic mess, and it's more of what I like. The series begins with Kavanaugh still banging about but is quickly put to one side as Vic and his team grieve over the loss of one of their members. Not only this, but Vic is being forced into retirement, his replacement is eager to jump in, there's a Mexican massacre to sort out, teenage runaways getting sodomised and tortured, Shane is about to have a breakdown and all the usual drama taking place in the Barn.

The general storyline is Mackey trying to find the culprit who killed his colleague and this leads him down a dark and destructive path, his new replacement is also quite 'hip' and 'cool' but is definitely no Vic Mackey, and realises he has some pretty big boots to fill. It's also, again, a power struggle, Vic doesn't like the idea that he won't be in charge anymore and Claudette is trying to reign him in as much as possible while keeping the station afloat. We also see the darker side of politics and how it can be a dirtier game than on the streets. But essentially, I feel this series, and pretty much all of The Shield, is an account of the downfall of Shane. Sure, Vic graces the covers and is the first thing people think of when they see anything to do with The Shield, but really it's about how he has corrupted Shane and created some kind of monster - and like Frankenstein's monster, he starts to stand up to his creator. Their relationship has it's ups and downs, but as Shane starts getting heavily involved with the Armenians, he realises he is in way over his head and has put everything at risk. His selfish behaviour is at odds with the compassion he feels towards the team and his own family and takes out this turmoil on himself in self-destructive ways. Yes, Mackey is the driving force of the series, but Shane is the result.

There's a good fair bit of action, though maybe not as much as the first few series and the show has definitely took an 'intelligent' turn in that it usually focuses now more on double crossings, staying ahead of the game and manipulating people rather than just catching bad guys - which is good and bad, as you can go through almost a whole episode of just talking heads when you'd rather see some smashing heads. The acting again is great and the storylines are more intriguing than ever, including the side stories of Dutch, Tina, Dani etc. but the problem is that firstly, this series seems too short (11 episodes but still...) and makes a nice change from season 5 but there still feels like a certain bad stigma has carried on through - including Antwon.

This series has definitely jumped forward in terms of quality, but alas not quantity and should it have been mixed with the fifth series as originally conceived it would have been amazing. Instead, there's no real huge event, it's rather all a reaction from the previous series' events so it almost feels like an add-on, or as the producers call it 'season 5.1'. I couldn't agree more.

I just can't wait for the seventh...

Rating: 7/10