Sunday 27 June 2010

TV

Battlestar Galactica [2004]
2x09 Flight of the Phoenix
2x10 Pegasus [extended version]
The BSG Blu-rays (and some/all of the DVDs) contain a total of seven extended episodes, the first of these being Pegasus. Whereas the creators have labelled some of these episodes "editor's cuts" -- effectively meaning a long, unpolished version of the episode -- the extended Pegasus is a "director's cut" -- meaning the full-length version they would've liked to broadcast were they not stuck with a specific length slot. So, in this case, I've decided to eschew the broadcast version and jump straight to the extended one; quite what I'll do when I get to "editor's cut" episodes is something I'll equally over-think when the time comes.
More pertinently, then: what a frakkin' huge cliffhanger! Glad I don't have to wait months for the resolution -- on I go.

Damages
3x13 The Next One's Gonna Go in Your Throat [season finale]
If this does turn out to be the series finale, it was a great one, wrapping up all the major plot threads from all three seasons once and for all -- at last. But it leaves it open for more, so fingers crossed there'll be another case for Patty Hewes.

Doctor Who Confidential
5x13 Out of Time [season finale]
I often find I miss New York, something this episode was all-too-good at reminding me. As for the two slight hints about next season... reassuring, but disappointingly vague. Which I suppose it what we should expect from Moffat & co.
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

How I Met Your Mother
5x05 Duel Citizenship
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

Films

Mulan (1998)
[#64 in 100 Films in a Year 2010]

Articles

I Couldn’t Care Fewer. by Andrew Taylor
(from Apathy Sketchpad)
I agree.

Ooops! The Daily Mail falls victim to spoof Steve Jobs iPhone recall Tweet by Will Sturgeon
(from The Media Blog)
This is priceless. You must read it. Go on.

this week on 100 Films

3 new reviews were posted to 100 Films in a Year this week, and they were...

2012 (2009)
It’s a CGI-focused visually epic spectacular built on a story that lacks an original plot or real characterisation. Sounds familiar… Ah yes — Avatar. I’m sure those who loved Cameron’s Oscar-loser will get something from 2012 too.

Final Destination (2000)
very much “high concept” filmmaking — the concept being, in case you’ve somehow missed it, that a bunch of characters manage to dodge Death thanks to a premonition, so now Death’s out to settle the score — so the dodgier aspects, like the mediocre dialogue and performances, slide by because, well, they don’t matter that much.

First Blood (1982)
"Rambo" has become a byword for violent excess. But the first film has marginally nobler aims: here, the not-yet-titular hero is a Vietnam vet dealing with a mixture of PTSD, unresolved service issues, and poor treatment from the 'folks back home'

More next Sunday.