Media Summary: Feb 2011

(Click on the links for more encyclopedic information about the show and/or the actors.)


Movies = 6

A Simple Noodle Story: Also known as A Woman, A Gun and A Noodle Shop, Zhang Yimou's vividly colorful and darkly comic Chinese remake of Blood Simple makes wish this was the original film.  Well worth the dload

Broadcast News: The first of my 2 revisits to classic films that either I never finished or fully appreciated.  (This is the former.)  As a kid I caught a TV movie starring Albert Finney (probably my first introduction to Brits playing American characters) and it made me want to be a news anchor (not to be confused w/ wanting to be a news reporter).  Broadcast News made me want to work in the news media.  Reality made me disdain both career paths.

Casino Jack: I first watched the documentary about Jack Abromoff-- Casino Jack and the United States of Money-- before seeing this semi-fictionalized account w/ Kevin Spacey playing Abromoff.  While this film was an acting (and impersonating) tour-de-force for Spacey, the documentary was ironically more entertaining and informative.

The Others: The second of my classic film revisits, dloaded mainly because I wanted to see if it was creepier in Hi-Def.  One of the better plot-twisted horror movies out there.

Trinity and Beyond: The Atomic Bomb Movie: Documentaries like this taught me that while seeing mushroom clouds onscreen set to classical music can be both beautiful and haunting, I will stick to action movie explosions to fulfill my entertainment desires.



Welcome to the Rileys: Another attempt by James Gandolfini to get out from under Tony Soprano's large shadow by taking a role that doesn't require speaking w/ a Jersey accent. Also, another attempt by Kristen Stewart to just act, period. Kidding aside it's not a bad film.

TV= 22 Weekly shows, 62 episodes

Eagleheart: Usually shows produced by Conan O'Brien get me w/ their quirky humor, but this Walker: Texas Ranger homage was the exception to that otherwise flexible rule.  Maybe it's because I've yet to like any live action show from Adult Swim, or Chris Elliot just annoys me whenever I see him onscreen.  That said I thought he was ok as the voice of Dogbert on the Dilbert cartoon.

Justified: "Urban Western" on its 2nd season.  I like how this show delves into the characterization of the antagonists more than the protagonists.  Bad guys are always more interesting, and how they're dealt with by Timothy Olyphant's character Marshall Raylan Givens is as Wild West as it can get: shoot first, period.  I'm amazed you can get 2 season's worth of episodes from a short story by Elmore Leonard.

Mister Sunshine: As much as this show seemed like a chance to have Matthew Perry play the same passive-aggresive, sarcastic, wide-eyed straight man again, I was right not to stick w/ this so-so funny show, w/c was cancelled after 9 episodes.

The Chicago Code: Shawn Ryan, the man who gave us The Unit, comes back w/ a cop drama about good guys fighting bad guys in power.  I didn't expect Jennifer Beals' character, Superintendent of Police Teresa Colvin, to bring down Alderman Ronan Gibbons (played by Delroy Lindo) in the 1st Season, but since the show was cancelled she didn't really have choice.  By Episode 13 it was all wrapped up in a neat little (DVD) package.

Untouchable: After trying out anime shows, I was taking advantage of a (then) fast internet connection to try out other Asian programs I otherwise wouldn't have bothered with.  After going through the first, second, third and jumping to the ninth (and last) episode, I realized that I really shouldn't have bothered.

10 O'Clock Live
30 Rock
Archer
Californication
Community
Flashpoint
Fringe
How TV Ruined Your Life
Mitsudomoe
Modern Family
ONN
Parks & Recreation
SNL
The Good Wife
The Office
The Ricky Gervais Show
White Collar