Busy For Fun Blogs: 2009

DVD/Blu-ray Releases: January 2010

Amazon.co.uk Widgets

A new year, a new decade... and not much to watch on DVD or Blu-ray to kick us off. Oh well, here's what's available for British consumers anyway:

4 JANUARY

Beautiful People: Series 2

Deep Impact

Ferris Bueller's Day Off

Garrow's Law: Series 1

Hustle: Series 1-5 Box-set

Hustle: Series 5

11 JANUARY

Antichrist

Doctor Who: The 2009 Specials

Doctor Who: Waters Of Mars & The End Of Time

Last Action Hero

Swingtown: Season 1

The Taking Of Pelham 123

18 JANUARY

(500) Days Of Summer

Creation

Dorian Gray

Funny People

Gamer

Nip/Tuck: Season 6

25 JANUARY

Magnolia

Smokin' Aces

Whiteout

BACKTOFRANKBLACK.COM WISH YOU ALL A VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Well today heralds an a whole new era for Millennium Fans and supporters of this campaign as we look forward to 2010 and all that is in store for us, hopefully a Millennium Movie for one. This is the second new year that BackToFrankBlack.com has celebrated and no one was more surprised to celebrate our first than I was and it is the support of you good people that has kept this campaign alive, and so vibrant, for so long. To mark the new year, Josef has created a video to celebrate, well, what else, Frank Black and we hope you enjoy this little celebration of the character we all love.

To each and every one of you, a happy new year and please continue to support this campaign throughout 2010 as those involved have lost in store that we are sure you will enjoy. Never give up the fight, always keep believing and let's make this year the year that we bring Frank Black back!

The Turn Of The Screw

[SPOILERS] Another remake of Henry James' classic 1898 ghost story, this BBC adaptation by Sandy Welch was a fairly successful interpretation of the story (with a few clever twists to embellish the book's Freudian subtext, like bringing the action forward to post-World War I, so that the haunted house was entirely without male residents.) A governess called Ann (Michelle Dockery) is sent to the country estate of Bly to look after her hermitic employer's spooky children, Miles (Josef Lindsay) and Flora (Eva Sayer), where she encounters secretive staff – such as ageing housekeeper Sarah Grose (Sue Johnston) -- and later begins to suspect that a former felonious groundskeeper called Quint (Edward MacLiam) has returned from the dead...

The Turn Of The Screw is a classic story that's influenced so many things that a great deal of its narrative, ideas and scare tactics feel over familiar and predictable. Maybe you've seen the revered 1961 movie, re-titled The Innocents, or notice the similarities to Alejandro Amenábar 2001 hit The Others with Nicole Kidman? Even if you haven't, the basic idea of a haunted English country house, containing two flaxen-haired siblings, cagey female staff, empty gardens, still ponds, and ghostly presences staring through windows, are things that have come to feel quite clichéd in today's pop-culture.

For that reason, a great deal of this 90-minute special felt too cosy and familiar, although that did give things a certain charm. However, the story felt stretched in places (a snappier 70-minutes would have worked better), and I always find it exasperating when people in these stories react in unrealistic ways toward the supernatural. It also didn't help that the children, who are supposed to be victims that need protecting from Quint's malevolent spirit, felt very unsympathetic and annoying. It's the kind of story where everyone and everything seems hell-bent on acting as strangely and irrationally as possible, just to give Ann just cause to doubt her sanity. But that's a key part of the story, admittedly – is the governess insane, paranoid, and projecting her fantasies onto other people? Of course, there's more evidence to say it's a clear-cut case of haunting, with Quint returning to try and possess young Miles so he can continue his debauched lifestyle.

Michelle Dockery was very good in the lead role; likeable and relatable, so we were definitely with her every step of the way. Sue Johnston was fine as the guilt-stricken housekeeper, and the two children were brilliantly cast – Josef Lindsay looking like a negative of the kid in The Omen, and Eva Sayer having a peculiarly adult-looking head on young shoulders. The direction from Tim Fywell was pretty good, giving things enough of a modern-day touch to ensure a few of the spookier moments landed their punch without looking too misplaced in a period story. Welch's script was also very well-balanced, even if things started to grow a little tedious around the 60-minute mark, and I personally don't think the climax to James' story is gripping enough to have warranted the slow build-up.

Overall, The Turn Of The Screw was a thoroughly decent and creepy little ghost story, nicely put together by all concerned. Most of its "faults" can be attributed to the fact Henry James story has bled through so many subsequent films and television shows that the original now feels hackneyed in retrospect –- so you have to keep in mind this was written in the 19th-century before all of its imitators. However, I'm not convinced this BBC adaptation succeeded in bringing anything particularly fresh and interesting to the story, beyond a few welcome tweaks, so I have to admit I was rarely unsettled or frightened by anything presented here. But still, entertained and mildly unnerved isn't a bad response to have.

30 December 2009
BBC1/BBC HD, 9pm

written by: Sandy Welch directed by: Tim Fywell starring: Michelle Dockery (Ann), Sue Johnston (Sarah Grose), Dan Stevens (Dr Fisher), Nicola Walker (Carla), Eva Sayer (Flora), Josef Lindsay (Miles), Mark Umbers (Master), Corin Redgrave (Professor), Wendy Albiston (Baines), Sarah Buckland (Diane), Edward MacLiam (Peter Quint), Katie Lightfoot (Emily Jessel), Nellie Burroughes (Abused Maid), Peter Bygott (Ann's Father), Honor Cargill-Martin (Young Ann) & Cameron Stewart (Police Inspector)

"Millennium" part of the New Year's Eve Skype Files!

To celebrate 2010, X-Files News' Skype files are doing a New Years Extravaganza which will include 'Millennium', the X-Files episode featuring Mr F Black.

"Join us at 9pm EST on Thursday, December 31st for a celebration to round out a decade of Philedom.

We’ve laughed together, we’ve cried together, we’ve vidded together and written thousands of postcards together. We’ve gotten one movie made and another on the horizon and the memories of the last ten years will follow us into a new decade." Avi Quijada

For information on how to join in on the Skype Files, click here.

This begins at 9pm EST on Thursday, December 31st. The schedule is as follows:

9:00pm-10:00pm: Open Chat

10:00pm: Arcadia- Rob and Laura Petrie tackle married life and a garbage monster.

11:00pm: Millennium- Ring in the New Year and celebrate the 10 YEAR ANNIVERSARY of the Y2K kiss seen round the globe with X-Files and Frank Black Fans alike!

12:15am: X-Cops- After the ball drops, kick back with Mulder, Scully and some bad boys action.

So if you've got a quiet night, why not go and represent Frank across the border in the wondrous X-Files land!

Source: X-Files News

Vault of Horror interviews BacktoFrankBlack

Our own Troy Foreman was interviewed by The Vault of Horror. Below is an excerpt of the interview, plus the link to the Vault itself to read more - and puruse its plethora of Horror focused content!

"What has the reception been from FOX thus far? Any interaction?

There has not been an official response from FOX as of yet. We were sending our letters and postcards initially to Michael Broidy of FOX, but after a while, we found out from Frank Spotnitz that he was not the person to send them to. After doing some digging around, we were given the name Steve Asbell, and that is who we are focusing our attention on right now. The people behind XFN (Xfiles News) who are trying to get a 3rd X-Files movie made, were lucky enough to get a meeting with Michael Broidy and during the meeting, he stated that he had been receiving many postcards from fans of the show Millennium. So at least we know they were getting there!"

To read more, follow the link!

TRAILER PARK: The Karate Kid (2010)

The original 1984 Karate Kid was one of those childhood movies that left an indelible impression on me, as a kid growing up in the '80s. In some ways it was my generation's Enter The Dragon, introducing us to the world of martial arts and action cinema. It was also a pretty decent human drama about overcoming bullying, full of classic moments and dialogue that have entered pop-culture (i.e. Family Guy will reference it for an easy laugh.) There were three sequels that nosedived in quality (one starring future-Oscar winner Hilary Swank!), but the original remains a surprisingly robust and emotive movie. It's Rocky for the under-12's, basically. You can read my review of the original here, if you're interested. A remake has been on the cards for awhile, but now it's frightening reality...

Will Smith's son Jaden (last seen in I Am Legend playing, er, Will Smith's son), takes the lead in this remake from director Harald Zwart (The Pink Panther 2, Agent Cody Banks), with chopsocky legend Jackie Chan taking on the iconic role of sensei Mr. Miyagi (ahem, now known as Mr. Han). I quite like the idea of Chan being involved in this film, actually -- he may lack Morita's quiet intensity and quirky charm, but he'll undoubtedly be a lot handier with the actual fighting. I'm not keen on the idea of Jaden Smith still, mainly because he's so much younger than Ralph Macchio's character -- so, instead of the subtext being about becoming an independent man (first car, first girlfriend), it's now likely to be about stopping a gang of playground bullies. Pure and simple. I'm guessing the filmmaker's are going after the kids who are unlikely to have seen the '84 original repeated on television yet.

There's a half-decent tweak to the basic story, I guess. This time, the "Karate Kid" and his single mom have moved to China, so in some ways this remake is combining the original with its immediate Okinawa-set sequel. I'm also glad they appeared to have kept a few key ideas from the original; like ~~Miyagi~~ Han using everyday routines to teach his student fighting techniques via the "muscle memory" of, say, putting a jacket on. It's not quite "wax on, wax off" of "paint the fence" in its beauty and plausibility, but I guess it'll do. The final joke in the trailer, a twist on the original's scene where Miyagi was trying to catch a fly inbetween chopsticks, also earned a little giggle from me. And yes, even with hack director Zwart behind the camera, I daresay the fight sequences will be better than ever before, and Jaden Smith looks more physically competent than Macchio ever did.

I guess what I'm saying is simple: based solely on this trailer, I'm predicting The Karate Kid remake will be fairly mediocre (certainly a pale imitation of the '80s cult classic of fleeting popularity), but the presence of Chan, the athleticism of Jaden, and a few fun injokes may be enough to transform it into disposable fun for old fans. Just so long as it all boils down to another amusingly "undefendable" Crane Kick, right? SWEEP THE LEG!

Dan's Top TV Shows of 2009: #34 - #22

2009 was a great year for television drama, so here's my annual countdown of the best the small-screen had to offer UK audiences. As always, it's all purely my opinion, with a few rules to take into consideration:

Rule #1: TV shows on this list must have aired at least half their episodes during 2009. Rule #2: Only dramas, miniseries or sitcoms are eligible for this list -- not documentaries, gameshows, reality shows, etc. Rule #3: Only TV shows that aired in the UK will be included.

So, without further ado, here's the bottom-third of my list:

34. Demons, series 1
Atrocious ITV attempt to create their own teatime telefantasy to lure the Doctor Who/Merlin audience during their respective "off seasons". The concept was an unoriginal riff on Buffy The Vampire Slayer, with none of the wit or invention of Joss Whedon's '90s show. And quite how you can waste the potential behind "Gene Hunt, vampire slayer" in Philip Glenister's presence beggared belief. [full reviews here]

33. Kröd Mändoon & The Flaming Sword Of Fire
Thanks to the prominence and popularity of fantasy in the '00s, through Harry Potter and The Lord Of The Rings, the notion of a Blackadder-meets-Monty Python style spoof was a good one. Unfortunately, US/UK co-production Kröd Mändoon & The Flaming Sword Of Fire was a messy, unfunny stinker through and through. I quite liked Alex Macqueen's slimy henchman Barnabus, and India de Beaufort was a stunningly attractive Xena-ish addition to the cast, but there was precious few laughs. [full reviews here]

32. Red Dwarf, special
The once hilarious sci-fi comedy lost its funny bone in the mid-'90s, but nobody ever told co-creator Doug Naylor. This year's three-part "Back To Earth" special was a triumph of production design (the titular crimson ship has never looked so vast and empty), but the script was terribly unfunny. The fact it recycled a revered series 5 episode (duplicating the twist-ending, to boot!) was bad enough, but its extensive Blade Runner pastiche just came across as lazy tosh. The worst thing is probably how it proved so successful for digital channel Dave that they've commissioned more scripts for a whole new series. Please, I know everyone involved has bills to pay, but let the show die already. [part 1 review, part 2 review, part 3 review]

31. Defying Gravity
I love the idea of doing a near-future sci-fi drama set aboard a spaceship with a crew of astronauts, but Defying Gravity didn't know what demographic it was chasing. Its soppy soap elements alienated most of the boys, and there wasn't much there to interest the girls anyway. Its mystery of secret cargo "Beta" was a decent idea, but they teased it out for seven torturous hours, by which time most people had given up. The last batch of episodes were a definite improvement on things, but that upswing in quality didn't justify the hours it took to get there. [read full reviews here]

30. Survivors, series 1
A remake of the classic '70 doomsday drama, with a promising start and a decent finish, but the episodes inbetween were of mixed success. I think the main problem with post-apocalyptic drama on British TV is that the budget isn't there to give us a truly realistic representation of its "what if?" scenario, and its characters were pretty bland. It was also hamstrung by the fact there is clearly no solution to the problem (you can't resurrect the dead), and the so-called "bad guys" were unaffacted scientists hoping to create a cure using the blood of a survivor. Huh? [full reviews here]

29. Whitechapel
Better than expected for a ITV original drama, thanks to inventive direction from SJ Clarkson (who has since gone to the US, working on Heroes and Dexter) and a tryptych of enjoyable performances from Rupert Penry-Jones (as a neat-freak upperclass detective), Phil Davies (as a working class old-timer) and Steve Pemberton (as a rotund Ripperologist). The notion of a modern-day serial-killer copying Jack The Ripper's infamous murder spree isn't anything new, but Whitechapel did a decent job. [part 1 review, part 2 review, part 3 review]

28. Hung, season 1
Sex-comedy from HBO that started off strongly with its Alexander Payne-directed pilot, then kind of just coasted through season 1 with an amicable but meandering tone. A show of good little moments and fun performances from Thomas Jane and Jane Adams (as the gigolo and his female pimp), but nowhere near as sexy, funny and dramatic as it needed to be. [first four reviews here]

27. Primeval, series 3
A turning point for the time-travel/monster-hunting series, as two new characters joined the cast and the dour lead died. The premise was also given a welcome tweak, allowing for more "supernatural" monsters to come through anomalies from Earth's future. Primeval's still a very silly, dumb TV series in so many ways, but it's fun if you're in the right mood and adjust your expectations accordingly. [full reviews here]

26. Prison Break, season 4
It's quite remarkable that Prison Break got this far, but the axe finally fell in the fourth season, which had transformed the premise into something resembling The A-Team. Like most seasons, it started promisingly enough, then went haywire around mid-season as it tried to extend its story beyond its natural end. Still, the big surprise was how well the feature-length finale worked, which only goes to show how a definite end-date can transform a show. I'm glad it went out on a relative high, anyway. [full reviews here]

25. Heroes, season 3
After the disastrous second season, things improved in season 3, but Heroes still looked incapable of equalling its thrilling first year. The opening volume "Villains" soon exhausted its potential, although "Fugitives" was a notable improvement for the latter half of the year. But an abundance of scripting problems (issues with the unwieldy concept, poor use of characters) continued to undermine what once felt fresh, purposeful, clever and surprising. [full reviews here]

24. FlashForward, season 1
Great idea, pockmarked with problems when you try to make a serialized TV show from it. FlashFoward did itself no favours by hailing itself as "the new Lost" before anyone had even seen it, so while the big-budget premiere was slick and gripping enough to keep you watching for awhile, it became clear that none of the characters were very interesting or likeable. A steady stream of plot twists, surprises and fun cliffhangers were undoubtedly its saving grace, and I'm pleased to see it's at least kept a sense of pace, but I don't think it has a longterm future once season 1's wrapped up. [full reviews here]

23. Damages, season 2
I adored the first season, but the follow-up just didn't click for me. I didn't engage with the year's "case" (environmentalism, stock market manipulation), so it quickly became sluggish and tedious. Things perked up towards the end as the dispirate plot-strands came together, and there was enough intrigue and surprises to keep my interest, but this was definitely not up the standard of season 1. One big frustration was how it tried to be a sequel to the first season in too many ways, when I'd have preferred a cleaner break. [full reviews here]

22. Flight Of The Conchords, season 2
A mixed bag of a season that reversed the problem of season 1; in that the comedy songs were noticeably worse, but the scripts were far better. I laughed more than I did throughout the whole of season 1, though -- particularly during the episode where Jemaine got an Australian girlfriend and whenever the clueless NZ Prime Minister was around. [full reviews here]

Continue to Part 2 ==>

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