I want to go on a long rant about how tasteless this film is. I want to write about the experience of watching a film where I wondered if the filmmakers really thought about the story they were telling - and whether they really hate women as much as they seem to. I want to write a review that takes Hollywood to task for trawling through Asian horror cinema, remaking it with this kind of rotten subtext. I want to talk about how graceful a still image can be and how messy the moving frame is in the hands of this director.

I want to, but I just don't have the energy. I don't have the energy to spend on such a worthless piece of trash cinema. I don't have the will to give this film any more of my precious life, even picking it apart, eviscerating it and degrading it like it does to the female characters in the film. Oh, the men don't get off lightly either - given they are all rapists.

The ABC network in America has picked up the U.S. remake of Life on Mars for 2008-09 season.

Check out the (unintentionally hilarious) trailer here.

Cheesey trailer monkeys likely to blame for it looking so ridiculous but I know the premise works at least. If I didn't, I wouldn't check the show out based on this trailer!

Uh, square-jawed giant Sam Tyler doesn't really work for me. I mean, Gene Hunt is supposed to be imposing next to him. But this Sam Tyler won't take any shit, it seems...

Two things, Trekkies:

I was going to wait until this arc was complete before reviewing it, but I've only got one thing to say:

You have GOT TO BE FUCKING KIDDING ME!

Not impressed.

ETA: Spoilers in comments

I'm not sure why, but this season of Doctor Who isn't really exciting me. There is yet to be an episode that is outstanding in some way or other. The Sontaran two-parter was great, but mostly because it side-stepped being the mess that last year's Dalek two-parter was.

There is - every week - some great character moments for the Doctor and Donna. And poor Martha keeps coming back, only to be separated from the main plot by some contrivance or other.


Next week: an Agatha Christie mystery... with Agatha Christie... (I feel like I'm marking time waiting for the Stephen Moffat two-parter the week after... and the four-part RTD multi-guest star finale extravaganza after that...)

So for those who have complained about Season Four not moving the story along – there’s some plot movement for you.

However, I’ve loved Season Four so far – proving yet again that BSG has strong runs of episodes at the start of the year. And we’re nowhere near where the mid-season slump would be yet.

When I reviewed Daredevil, I wondered if I didn’t engage with the character because I was new to the character – and most superhero movies I saw these days were about characters I had a connection to from childhood.

Even now, with a passing interest in the Marvel comic universe, I don’t really know a lot about Iron Man and Tony Stark. The film, however, proved the first assumption wrong – I can engage with a new big screen superhero, if they have two key ingredients: the superpower comments on the character; the actor playing the character is a great actor.

I’m sure the “justice is blind” thing for Daredevil seemed like a good pun at the time, but I much prefer Iron Man’s allusion to Tony Stark being heartless – which of course he proves wrong.

Also, Ben Affleck is not a good actor. But Robert Downey Jnr is brilliant – always.

Downey Jnr is the key ingredient of the film. In other hands, I wouldn’t be as convinced of Stark’s early ruthlessness, his smugness, his sarcasm and his chemistry with women – all women. It’s a tough act to pull off. In a way, the character is like Batman – millionaire playboy who invents superhero persona and has fabulous toys. But Stark and Bruce Wayne are screwed up in different ways.

( This Proves that Tony Stark has a Heart... )

Two things you should now before seeing the movie: it’s a great superhero film; stay after the credits for an important scene. (I say important, because it’s not like some post-credit scenes that suck ass, like the one in X3.)

I love this show so much - I think it replaces Arrested Development as the off-the-wall sitcom I love. It's not quite that show, but it's so different to the other half-hours I watch, like The Office or Weeds.

Tina Fey is so adorable and funny - and smart. The writing on this season finale was snappy and really well paced. It picked up a lot of other plotlines from other episodes and somehow turned them into a good climax for year two. It's been an odd year for television, but 30 Rock maintained its quality throughout - it's as funny as it's ever been and the satire is there along with the pratfalls and the sketch comedy stylings that come from Fey's years on Saturday Night Live.


Can't wait to see what the show brings next season. So glad it's got a third year!

My favourite film critic, Glenn Kenny, has had his position at Premiere.com terminated.

His final blog post.

It is the end of an era. Hopefully someone else finds his extensive knowledge of film history and his film criticism valuable - and his reviews and his blog pop up elsewhere.

The first sign that Premiere.com isn't working? Will it fold or turn into Entertainment Weekly or US or People?

First the magazine disappears. Now they killed Kenny! Boo.

ETA: So he started his own blog... and I MetaFiltered the whole debacle, which actually includes news of a lot of traditional media outlets letting their film critics go and some questioning a critic's validity in this day and age.

Then Hillary says: "It's full speed on to the White House."
It seems you can't spell delusional without HRC.

Also know as, Alan Ball has issues - the same issues as American Beauty. Well, I'm sure the trailer was cut to leave that impression, but it seems so similar that I'm not really hanging out for it the way I was before. Okay, this film has the issue of racism folded in, but another movie about a middle-aged man lusting after an underage girl? More neighbourly voyeurism?

Helen Raynor, all is forgiven. After your craptacular contributions to both Doctor Who and Torchwood last season, you've proven on both shows this year that sometimes you're damn good. This is - without a doubt - the best early season two-parter in New Who's short history.


Next Week: Doctor Who, the Next Generation

As the "to be continued" suggests at the end, this episode was really only half of a story - and after the strong opening four episodes, this one feels like it was treading water; playing story beats we have seen before or stretching out stories that need a shot of adrenalin or a twist.


Is it next Friday yet?

An excellent interview with Ronald D. Moore at Belief.com about religion on Battlestar Galactica.

I was particularly impressed with the idea that beyond the humans being polytheistic and the Cylons being monotheistic, that among the Cylons the models differ in the kind of monotheistic religion they might believe in, ie. Leoben has a sort of Eastern religious influence, where others are more aligned with Judeo-Christian beliefs

Also, on a more fannish note, I've been rewatching Season Two and with knowledge of what happens over the following seasons, I am getting ready to declare this the Best. Show. Ever. But I'll reserve that until the show is done. But seriously, watching Season Two now - knowing what I know - it's like watching a whole new show!!

For example: Tigh declares martial law and interrogates Chief Tyrol on suspicion of being a Cylon, then throws him in the brig with Boomer. Cut to Samuel Anders on Caprica trying to survive against the Cylon occupiers... as if all those scenes weren't wonderful before, now they are more complex!

lanafromoz made this great icon of Lucy Durack (Galinda) and Amanda Harrison (Elphaba)!

I needed one as we get closer to the Melbourne premiere in July! Yay!

Also the picture is from the launch night, when I met them and got autographs - so it's perfect for me.

"...but taking in this interminable show will lead you right into it."

- Steve on Broadway reviews the West End's newest musical, Gone with the Wind

"Unfortunately, the rest comes across as a mishmash of high school musicals, bad dinner theatre and a seemingly conscious nod to "Waiting For Guffman.""

Spoilers to 4x04... plus speculation about The Final Cylon


And might the Cylon's Plan all along have been to wipe out humanity so the survivors would lead them to Earth???

I really don't have much to say about this week's Doctor Who - it's the first of a two-parter and the cliffhanger was reasonably cliffhangy, for want of a half-decent word. Of course it will all get fixed next week - they aren't going to off Martha or Donna's grandfather, let's be honest.

Martha's reunion with the Doctor was well done, as was Martha meeting Donna - went completely against expectations, possibly with a woman writer involved we were spared another ex-girlfriend analogy. So Martha is now engaged to the Doctor she met in the year that never happened - cool, I guess. She really didn't want to be alone, did she?

UNIT was cool. A joke about UNIT dating was even better - oh yeah, I'm completely on top of Classic Who injokes about anal retentive fandom.

Unlike previous weeks, at least this one had a sense of humour about it - and though the villains couldn't be called intense, at least they are more interesting than what we've seen so far this year.

And because continuity is everything, Donna found out her granddad had met the Doctor before ("Voyage of the Damned") and Granddad found out that Donna's mum had met the Doctor before ("The Runaway Bride") and there was another mention of the Medusa Cascade. Hmm, I wonder if the season finale will find us there?

At least this was better than Helen Raynor's first half of a two-parter from last year, "Daleks in Manhattan". Shudder.