Grey's... season four

Been catching up with some of the Seattle Grace's going ons, and I must say season four is not quite as desperate as I had thought (remember the 'three seasons and the show's pretty much, usually, dead' posting). In fact, there are high points. Especially when you've taken a long (long!) break from the dramz that is surgeons and on-call rooms on eve tv...

Bailey (Chandra Wilson) is amazing, love her. But I did want to smack her (and had to pause the player repeatedly) when she turned into that blubbering awe-struck teen in front of what's-his-face jock from her high school days. Did love the resolution where we find out McDreamy (Patrick Dempsey) too wore a band uniform in high school, and had acne issues. Yes, high school is... interesting.

Izzie (Katherine Heigl)/George (T.R. Knight) Well... And beware those of you who haven't gotten past eppi seven/eight (SPOILERS), but this one had me all confused. I thought George and Callie were pretty much over from the start, but their storyline was interesting. Got old towards the end though. Oh, and I just love Callie (Sara Ramirez), I mean her entrance into the show involves dancing around in her 'home' in the cellar of the hospital as the chief walks in, plus she's sassy in a more believable way.
But... The coupling, well, could've worked. But they're just so perfect as just best friends it definitely seems like it could've gotten awkward. Still, lucky girl... And as far as Izzie's storyline go, I think she could really carry some more hefty (=juicy) character backstories come-to-life. We already see it happening with the 'not friends like Mer and Christina' comments, and the 'trailerpark' references.

Meridith (Ellen Pompeo)/Christina (Sandra Oh).... I just had to say, I love em both... in all their dark and twisted ways, both of them (!), love them. Even though both characters are worn out and more often than not evoke strange desires to smack them over the head... Why! Why is it fair that Mer has to have abandonment issues big enough to twart McDreamy happy-ever-afterness? What does that leave for the rest of us twisted personas? *sad smile* And Christina needs to punch Hahn. Mostly just because that'd be an awsome showdown. Oh *pictures*. Plus, someone needs to put the new Burke in place.

And there's the other thing. Are we missing Burke (Isaiah Washington)? Are we, really? Because, while him and Christina had their moments of wow ness I think their time ran out... a bit. And, well, it's all going quite well... Right?

Oh, and I hear saucy gossip that Kate (Walsh) is returning for an episode to come in the spring (date's not been set cause the eppi's not been scripted out fully yet). Oh Addison, bringing in the comedy and the drama.

So basically, the fourth season doesn't suck. It'll never reach the peak of the 'Denny dying while Izzie frantically shoves her career down the pipe to save him' arc back in season two/three (early), but hey... It doesn't suck. And it's evolved. And they're all older, bossier, and tragic, and they shout a lot and make dumb decisions and have lots of open heart surgeries.

/
Prue

P.S. Madeleine Zima's guest apperance (as Marissa during the 'high school sucks' episode) as the pretty realistic best friend of 'pencil in my eye' guy was fantastic, can't wait to see more of her (in leading roles!)...

George: "Izzie, did you only shave one of your legs?"

Izzie: (starts crying again) "Yes!"

Reminisce, and enjoy the height of a storyline (/show). A few years ago now.

Supernatural re-newed for Fourth Season!

Big (and official) news!!!! SPN aka Supernatural will return with a fourth season sometime in the fall, the CW has announced. It is being re-newed along with Gossip Girl, One Tree Hill, Smallville, and America's next top model to name a few (check out the list here or here).

Great news for the fans who've been worrying throughout the strike. The show which has developed quite the cultish fan base around the world (dude, who get's more conventions in their schedules than these guys? Okay, seriously, don't answer that, I was just trying to make a point) will also be back for a couple (four) of episodes in circa April where among other things we'll have blair witch style/ghostbusters in reality show format comedy with the guys who asked the vital question back in season one, WWB (what would buffy do)? I feel so bad for knowing that *look guilty*. The big Dean-going-off-to-hell arc will also recieve a good deal of focus, and the last eppi is (DON'T READ IF YOU FEAR RELATIVELY OBVIOUS SPOILERS) supposed to center on his last day...

Lovely.... *grins expectantly*

/
Des

Fanfiction/parody ala Supernatural (Abridged series)

A friend sent me the link to the Abridged series version of the Supernatural Hookman (s1e7) eppi... And I must say it was quite funny at times. Bare with the first two pages and it get's pretty awsome. Especially love pyromaniacal Dean...

Enjoy kids =)

/
Des

Gone baby Gone

"Based on the Dennis Lehane novel about two Boston area detectives investigating a little girl's kidnapping, which ultimately turns into a crisis both professionally and personally."


First off, gone baby gone. Ben Affleck feel down to the very core, and in a good way too. It’s the Good Will Hunting thing that’s come back to sparkle, granted though not to the same extent.

The film is based on a book (by Dennis Lehane) so complaining of the story would really make this more of a book review. The re-write to script works fine, well suited to the director and the cast. Casey Affleck (Patrick Kenzie) works perfectly in the role as he-doesn’t-look-a-day-over-25-investigator, and everyone down to the extras feel authentic. The mother of the missing girl (who has an un-canny resemblance to missing Madeleine, aka Europe’s heart ache girl who went missing from a hotel in Portugal almost a year ago) is perfect for the role, and a little too convincing in the ending scene where her priorities seem back to being… questionable but reflections of her life experiences.

Wow, that sounded awfully defensive. Don’t take it that way though.

The only real issues I have with this film relate to the answers we get towards the end. The un-folding of the plot after a certain point felt, at the time of watching, a bit un-realistic. However, while writing this and reminiscing in the scenes I realize it’s grown on me rather than the opposite. Then there is Michelle Monaghan (aka Angie Genarro and Casey’s character’s girlfriend and partner in missing-persons cases). Cute girl, probably an awsome actress, but at times I wonder what her role is in the movie except to make the first bar scene logical (threat to the damsel), fill out and ask some of the questions, act as emotional buffer. Her character seems to have a lot more depth and potential than shines through in the film (perhaps the book depicts her differently, perhaps the length of the movie simply didn’t allow for those moments to be included).

All in all, the movie was nice to watch (apart from the whole ‘god no, not the kid’ issue). Definitely one of the better releases of late, with a lot more old school depth and dramaturgy than some of it’s fellows in time. While the hype around We own the night for example out-did this one by far, Gone baby gone works the shoots and the emotional development of the storyline (a bit too many quick cuts between sights of the neighborehood though, but it’s workable).

As far as controversy goes bthw (beyond kimmel f*ing the director), the movie was not released in certain parts of England according to rumors because of the Madeleine case which remains unsolved.

All in all, it’s more than a good job. Not an awsome 'oh wow my hands are shaking' job, but definitely good and intriguing and once you put it on you’ll want to see it through even though you may have issues with some turns of events or the way Casey drawls his ‘h’s.

Desideria

Random posting… 'The company'

If you have been watching a lot of the ‘conspiracy among us’ shows out there you might have started to notice a couple of re-occuring developments. There is always one big bad shady business with an even shadier past which keeps getting more and more intricate until even the story tellers mix things up. This firm is most often represented by a middleaged/older character with common attributes that we would not normally think twice about, but in this case these attributes become almost notoriously well known (like, say, the horn rimmed glasses). And of course our heroes, they all have gray scales and dark sides, they are targeted by what initially appears to be random badness but turns out to be closely connected with their backgrounds.

My personal favourite among these has for the past three years been Prison Break (starring Wentworth Miller and Dominic Prucell amidst others). Season one had little brother Michael Scofield put himself in a prison in order to be able to break out big brother Lincoln Burrows who, as it happened, was sitting on death row convicted of the murder of the vice president’s brother.

Tough…

Of course, Lincoln was innocent as overly focused and smart (but slightly damaged and with a shitty background) Michael soon figured out. The engineer aka little brother put blue print tattoes all over his upper body and cleverly begun forming a plan to bust his brother out. Love is in the air fellas… And really, who could resist that concept?

Slowly but surely the conspiracy became clear, and well into season two the audience was already familiar with that vague but oh so meaningful term: ‘the company’. The shady firm had a name, a quite general and, well, gray name but nonetheless.

While logic and reason spiralled away rapidly towards the end of season two this show survived into a third season where the consiracy as well as the prison busting has reached new heights (or lows… depending on the perspective), but the audience is not as devoted any more. The angsty cliffhangers at the end of each episode just don’t hold the same desperate ‘I need to know what happens next’ sensation as they did throughout season one.

Still though, back to the red thread of the evil mysterious company. And onto another recent hit, Heroes.

The ensamble casts of both these shows has also been part of the success ingredients. Personally I think the brotherly aspect was what really pulled viewers in during season one, but the ensamble development was what kept them around during season two (when the brotherly connection begun loosening up). Heroes on the other hand has since day one been all about the group and the very different characters.

Season one held mystery and suspence as a scientists son came to New York to find answers regarding the truth in his father’s theories about evolution, Hiro from Japan travelled through time and space to be a hero and save a city from blasting to smitherins, Jessica/Niki battled multiple personalities (one of them murderous) and tried to keep the family together, and brothers Petrelli approached the un known from different perspectives. Yes, the brother factor again. Seems to be quite the re occuring success ingredient huh, and I must admit it draws in a crowd.

Ok ok, getting off topic again. So onto it then. There was something a bit off here, people with these special abilities (paint the future, hear thoughts, fly, bend the space continum), these future heroes, kept getting targeted both by a maniacal superpower collector who killed them and some big organization who appeared to enjoy treating them like occasionally dangerous lab rats a bit too much. And of course this organization soon became represented by one man (remember that in prison break we had several, the vice president, the asian man, the silent man), the man with the horn rimmed glasses. Also nown as cheerleder Claire’s (Hayden Panettiere) father.

Now, I didn’t think much of it as a conspiracy of crazies trying to keep these heroes under control, or some of them maybe even wanting the random blowing up of the city to occur, as it was another re occuring recipe that seemed to work alright. Then they started referring to it as ‘The company’.

Really? Guys? Imagination? Or is it some kind of internal thing I’m just not supposed to get. Or is it on purpose, a sorta general gray zone name that rings ‘evil’ and ‘danger’ so deeply it just has to be used, again and again in different scenarios.

Even though the storylines are still holding together (occasionally… somewhat) I’d say that ‘the company’ is loosing it’s impressive meaning. Everytime I hear it nowadays I feel a giggle coming on. I don’t do giggling. But it’s there, threatening, everytime. It just seemes so blatant, and maybe I’m wrong and way off here, but I wish they’d have had a few more names. Hey, maybe ‘evil empire of crazies’, or ‘big bad organization’, or ‘the horn rimmed glasses inc.’ Now that last one, that’d have scared me. Imagine their promotional campaign? *shudder*

/Desideria

Mood: randomly expressing thoughts in responce to having just finished watching Prison Breaks’ latest eppi… I miss the brooding Michael. I miss the desperation. I even miss Bagwell’s nasty comments. I miss that damned edge… Get them on the run again, or get some serious twists and actions that can’t be foreseen two hours ahead. I’ll just shut up now, cause we all know I’ll keep watching…

Heath Ledger is dead

Heath Ledger was found dead in NYC at his downtown Manhattan residence by his housekeeper around 3.26 p.m. on Tuesday.

The established and amazingly talanted actor was born on 4 April 1979, Australia, and died on the 21 January 2008. He leaves behind a family which includes a beautiful baby girl, Matilda, with ex Michelle Williams.

Recent projects include the coming Batman film, The Dark Knight where his performance as the Joker (a role previously done by Jack Nicholson) has already reaped a lot of praise and left audiences around the world excitedly anticipating the release date.

His resume of course also includes Brookeback Mountain, the amazingly touching and emotional film about two cowboys who fell in love with each other against the odds and against the norms of the world they lived in. Presumably his performance and the role as it was written will stick out as some of his most memorable achievements. It was a brave role to take, he did a great job, and he recieved a lot of respect and admiration around the world for it.

He's also to be recognized in films like Ten things I hate about you (which was hillarious, come on you've gotta love the singing on the bleechers scene), Casanova, and a stint in The Patriot.

A great actor, a person deserving a lot of respect for his art and his actions, and a name that'll live on in Hollywood. It SUCKS that things like this happens, that people leave the world far too soon. He will be greately missed, as will his precense in the world of arts. May he rest in peace...

/Desideria

Sarah Connor Chronicles- The mother of all destiny (eppi1&2)

In the midst of a coming dry spell on television a new FOX series featuring a continuation of the first two Terminator movies provides a shred of light. Personally my hopes for this project first took off when I heard David Nutter was producing and directing (the guy who directed the Supernatural pilot). Plus I always had a childhood crush on the Terminator series.

The Sarah Connor Chronicles revolve around the mother and son we left to their fates back in T2. Sarah (here played by Lena Heady, and back in the movie portrayed by Linda Hamilton ) and her kid John (played by Thomas Dekker, you’ll recognize his face from the first season of Heroes) are now fighting to survive and remain under the radar. Sarah herself has spent time at a mental institution for telling the truth about the future (machines take over, 3 billion dead, ladida, Arnold-machines saying things like ‘I’ll be back’). In the pilot mommy Connor freaks out after a dream where John ends up shot, and ups and moves the little family from her would-be fiance.

So they head to Texas where John goes to school and meets an odd but pretty girl. The next day, voila, the step-in teacher rips up his own leg, pulls out a gun, and starts shooting at our boy, the future leader of mankind… Or something along those lines. Actually he shoots the pretty girl too, only she turns out to be bit more mechanical than averege and saves John from a messy parking lot death by ramming a truck into the teacher from the future.

Right, so basically they start running, end up time travelling over to 2007 (yep, story starts back in 99), and the adventure and strive to make sure Sygate (that badass computer system that pretty much brings about apocalypse) is never created begins. Oh the fun.

I have to be honest. Apart from the robots, the flashy eyes, the gun fights, and the general ass kicking the show promises, the biggest draw-in for me was the fact that the story centered on this little trio of characters with so much potential beyond the ordinary cliches of drama. This is an action series with humanity.

Cameron, robogirl played by Summer Glau, does an good job so far as a slightly more human machine. In the fight scenes you can catch glimpses of the actress failing to not blink or reacting instinctively to a blow, but at the same time you see those dull eyes, that focus, and the always so creepy crooking of the head in response to a statement or action that just does not entirely make sense to ‘her’.

Ah the possibilities… Obviously a romance between John and Cam aka tincan would be complicated, which is wonderful because that leaves so much more room for angst and a whole lot of fight scenes and general terminator mood. Sarah’s character has interesting depths and (!) non-depths that will be nice to explore. And of course, it is the Terminator series on TV. This can either go really pretty well or really very badly.

So far the start is rocky but with a direction. The writing seems a bit messy at times, like there is too much to explain, too much to be shown and said and done all at once to get a jump start into the real story, but overall it works and they have stayed true to the concept. The action is nicely performed. There is a good deal of speed and a whole lot of artistic qualities to the show. Now it just needs to keep getting better, and by next season this could well be a big hit.

As stated before I had a childhood crush on this series, but I really can’t recall much detail, so as far as accuracy and staying true to the movies goes I really have no clue at the moment. Will need a Terminator movie eve for that, and that just doesn’t fit into the schedule anytime soon. Feel free to drop comments on that issue though.

Oh, and the new identities thing, John explaining how his new self is from Lawrence, Kansas. Any other SPN fan who reacted to that? Just curious, really… All in all, exciting watch primarily because it has so much potential to grow into. I’ll definitely stay tuned.

Plus, check out that promo picture of Sarah (Lena Heady) holding the gun. Bad ass, and makes me proud of the girlies on screen.

Golden Globe winners

Here's the list of Golden Globe winners to be expecting mailed parcels with the fancy inside. Cause, you know, there're no awards. Cause of, you know, the writers strike... Yeah...

Actually kind of nice, isn't it? Plus, just think of all the money and extravaganca saved on not hosting this thing.

As for the actual winners... Well, I'll just shut up about it. The major high light, though, seems to be Sweeny Todd and Johnny Depp recieving some recognition. Still haven't actually benched down and seen it, but I will I will...

The Sarah Connor Chronicles premieres tonight!

The new series Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles premieres on Sunday, January 13, 8/7c and you can catch the continuation already on Monday January 14, 9/8c on FOX.

Basically it's the continuation of Sarah and her son's story post T2. And it looks awsome. There's pleanty of fighting, there's guns blazing, all kinds of crazy machinery, a presumable ass kicking mother and son team, and of course the girl from Serenity, Summer Glau, (happiness) is back to portray Cameron, John's protector, and she just happens to be a machine... Oh the dramz and the action. Maybe there's hope for the TV world after all *grins*...

Check out the Sarah Connor Chronicle's blog with pleanty of photos and videos for more fun and randomness.

Oh and there's also a great interview clip over at TV.com, so head there and watch if you're up to it. Oh, and of course fest on the good old movies too.

Supernatural fresh episodes Jan. 31st

Supernatural returns on Thursday of January 31st at 9/8c on The CW. Tune in, enjoy, and spread the word.

As for the rumors out there that SPN is being canned for Reaper, not true. Reaper will be airing in that time slot a bit later on, allowing the CW to put out all the fresh episodes they've got avaliable. SPN re-runs will probably be returning once Reaper is out of epis, and as for survival chances there have been indicators online (that low but steady buzzing sound you hear) that a fourth season is prob more likely for SPN than a re-newal for Life is Wild or alot of other shows...

Oh, and the ratings of the season shows SPN and Smallville beating Gossip Girl and Life is Wild once into the season.

Now let's only keep our fingers crossed for the writers strike to come to a swift and just end so that everyone can get back to work. Crews have been fired left and right, and as for the SPN's Vancouver based crew approximately 250 people were let go before the hollidays according to Kripke and Singer. Hopefully a majority of them can be re-hired once (if...) production starts up again in the winter/spring.