TV Season 2009/2010 Diary, CW 43-44

TV Season 2009/10 Diary

Deutsche Version | CW 42-43 | CW 45

White Collar 1×01 Pilot
Someone mentioned that Chuck‘s Bryce Larkin would play a con man in the style of the epilogue of Catch Me If You Can. And I thought that I’d give it a try. So far I have to say it’s OK. As of yet I am undecided whether it’s a show for long-term watching, I will have to watch a few more episodes to decide that.

Castle 2×05 When the Bough Breaks
Richard Castle as possible author of James Bond books. That’d be the day 😀 I loved it how Kate’s and Rick’s relationship was developing forward without them actually doing anything in this regard.

Castle 2×06 Vampire Weekend
Despite all the references to the Whedonverse and Vampires, Lycans and co. in general, it was only an average episode. As I said before, Crime isn’t really my genre and this show has the disadvantage that there isn’t any additional drama outside the current case. I had hoped there would come something out of Castle’s discovery regarding Beckett’s mom’s murder, but they put that back in the box and forgot about it.

Two and a Half Men 7×05 For the Sake of the Child
This was a great episode, the two brothers worked very well as this old couple. I haven’t laughed that much for a while on TaaHM. “Things you would change about me? – Your address!”

Dollhouse 2×04 Belonging
A really great episode, written by Jed Whedon and directed by Jonathan Frakes. Again Echo is not in the spotlight, but Sierra and – especially – Topher. And it was one of the episodes where they seriously question the ethics and morality of the Dollhouse itself. They should do this way more often because therein lies the conflict potential of the show.

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Movie Watchings 2009 – October

DVD / Blu-ray, DVD Marathon, Movie Watchings 2009

Deutsche Version | September | November

October, 4th

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

Sean Astin   …    Samwise ‘Sam’ Gamgee
Sean Bean   …    Boromir
Cate Blanchett   …    Galadriel
Orlando Bloom   …    Legolas Greenleaf
Billy Boyd   …    Peregrin ‘Pippin’ Took
Ian Holm   …    Bilbo Baggins
Christopher Lee   …    Saruman
Andy Serkis   …    Gollum / Voice of The Witchking
Ian McKellen   …    Gandalf the Grey
Dominic Monaghan   …    Meriadoc ‘Merry’ Brandybuck
Viggo Mortensen   …    Aragorn
Craig Parker   …    Haldir
John Rhys-Davies   …    Gimli
Liv Tyler   …    Arwen
Hugo Weaving   …    Elrond
Elijah Wood   …    Frodo Baggins

Synopsis: 3000 years ago an army of Men and Elves defeated the dark lord Sauron. But his power was embedded in the One Ring, and that was not destroyed. The Ring found its way into the hands of Frodo Baggins, a Hobbit. And now the task of destroying it became his. But the Ring can only be destroyed where it was made: In Mount Doom in the heart of Mordor and there Sauron and his armies are rising again. His journey begins in the Shire, the homeland of the Hobbits and leads from there over Bree, Rivendell (the home of Elrond), Moria (a dwarf mine deep in the mountains) and Lothlórien. But Frodo is not alone on this journey; he’s accompanied by friends and allies of all races who stand against the dark forces: Hobbits, Elves, Dwarves, Wizards and Men.

My Opinion: I love this trilogy, maybe even a bit more than Star Wars but I am still undecided on that. I’ve read the books both in German and English but I have to say I like the films better. Most of the actors are really great, especially when they deliver speeches. The only somewhat problematic actor is Elijah Wood, especially in the later movies when Frodo becomes more and more influenced by the Ring. One gets the feeling he has only one facial expression left.
But still: Great story, awesome New Zealand Middle-Earth nature shots and superb special effects (even when they sometimes forgot to put a CGI arrow in Legolas’s bow 😉 ).
I also don’t mind the deviation from the books, e.g. no Tom Bombadil. It doesn’t really have an effect on the story at all; the only thing I really noticed was that they didn’t explain the origin of Merry’s sword which is important in the Battle on the Pelennor Fields. (In the books they find the weapons in old grave hills, they were forged to be used against the Witch-King of Angmar (leader of the Nazgûl) when he was still a man. That’s why Merry could stab and wound him and then he could be killed by Éowyn in Return of the King.)

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TV Season 2009/2010 Diary, CW 39-42

TV Season 2009/10 Diary

Deutsche Version | CW 41 | CW 42-43

Bones 5×04 The Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood
I really enjoyed this episode with all its entanglements in suburbia and especially the bantering between Bones/anthropology and Sweets/psychology regarding the life there.

Supernatural 5×05 Fallen Idols
Kripke warned the viewers not to judge to quickly about the appearance of Paris Hilton. And he was right, she was the perfect specimen to make the point the wood god wanted to make. 😀 And: “You got whaled on by Paris Hilton!” Hysterical

Smallville 9×03 Rabid
I didn’t care much for the zombie story (despite Supernatural horror still isn’t my genre) but I really like the way they are pushing the triangle C-L-B forward without making it feel forced. I also hope that this wasn’t the last appearance of Green Arrow. I hope he finds his path again soon and will play a larger role this season.

The Big Bang Theory 3×04 The Pirate Solution
I’m surprised, Leonard’s and Penny’s relationship is actually lasting (at least for now 😉 ). And Raj and Sheldon work together in a “Eye of the Tiger” montage – awesome!

Two and a Half Men 7×04 Laxative Tester, Horse Inseminator
It was funny (it would fail if it weren’t) but again not extraordinary. Maybe I shouldn’t watch two sitcoms in a row.

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The Good Wife

Short Review

The Good Wife @ Wikipedia The Good Wife @ IMDb Attorney-at-law shows have always been an off and on thing for me. Back in the…

Stargate SG-1: Children of the Gods – Final Cut

Short Review

Deutsche Version

Children of the Gods is the movie-length pilot of Stargate SG-1. It is said that there were creative differences between the producers and the networked “Showtime” chipped in, too. Additionally due to the story-telling of the series some aspects don’t make sense anymore.
Thus someone decided to create a “Final Cut” version of the pilot where scenes are reordered, shortened and the FX were enhanced.

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TV Season 2009/2010 Diary, CW 37-40

TV Season 2009/10 Diary

Deutsche Version | CW 41

Since I am watching a number of TV shows via community means, I decided to give a short opinion of said episodes.

The season began a few weeks ago, so here comes a bulk review:

Bones 5×01 Harbingers in a Fountain
While it was a nice start into the season it bothered me that they showed an actual fortune-teller without exposing her as a fraud. Especially Bones should have never accepted this fact.

Bones 5×02 The Bond in the Boot
Except for the fact that they played with the James Bond theme it was average.

Bones 5×03 The Plain in the Prodigy
I am totally agnostic and don’t really care for any religion. But I didn’t like how they portrayed the Amish’s reaction to the victim’s piano playing: “Oh that sounds so beautiful, why would God forbid playing instruments?”. The Amish are obviously very strong in their faith, I can’t imagine them questioning their believe just because they hear one musical instrument.

Castle 2×01 Deep in Death
One of these “We have to resolve our differences that came up by the end of last season by the end of the first episode of this season” episodes. He apologized and all was well. But it was cool how Castle played Poker with the Russian mob and how Beckett got him out of there. 😀

Castle 2×02 The Double Down
I’ve seen this kind of plot recently (without Castle’s betting pool of course 😉 ) on Bones IIRC. But on Bones it had been 3 victims/murderers, not just two. Normally I wouldn’t watch such a show at all but Fillion/Castle makes it totally worthwhile.

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