Legion World Forums LEGION COMPANION The Anywhere Machine So what are you WATCHING?

The best version of The Scarlet Pimpernel is the Looney Tunes version.

"It'th the Thcarlet P-P-Pumpernickel."

Zounds! I liked it!

So what *is* a Pimpernel?

It's a type of flower, similar to a primrose!

"The Cape" was good... a little campy but not overboard... good visuals... best line - "Say hi to Dorothy, bitch"...

I just watched it, and was fairly impressed. There were things I didn't like about it, but overall it's got me a lot more interested than No Ordinary Family or The Event.

Been trying to find Hedwig and the Angry Inch I think it is. Heard it was pretty good. Gotta be better than Priscilla, Queen of the Desert.

I actually liked The Cape, as well! And I was ready not to. Keith David is a treasure as the leader of the delightful Circus of Crime (which is a great name, but not exactly accurate. More appropriate would be Circus and Anti-Establishmentarianism, I think). The whole setting--the villains, the city, the plot, the hero's appearance and abilities--has a wonderful, Golden-Age feel to it. I keep flashing on pre-Kirby Sandman, or Kubert's Hawkman, or the covers to the original Green Lantern, and their later descendants, like the Question, or even Aztek. In the Cape's world, bright colors and darkest shadows mix freely, a city can be subverted by rich and corrupt criminals, the lives of the virtuous sundered, and the heroic journey is about recovering that life, which includes a little boy who reads comic books and idolizes his dad, even in the face of damning evidence that his dad is a criminal, which places it in a 1930s/40s context, not the saccharine world of the 1950s. People are killed, but not gratuitously, and we see the suffering that killing leaves in its wake. The shows weakest link seems to be the actor playing the lead character, but maybe I expect too much.

Yeah, I think the Golden Age or even pulp feel to The Cape is it's real strength. And visually it's brilliant. I thought the writing was kind of weak though. It seemed like they were trying to cram too much into the premiere episodes. But it was nice to see a tv super-hero with, you know, an actual costume and secret identity for once. I'm pretty much bored with the whole "ordinary people with secret super-powers" motif of Smallville/Heroes/No Ordinary Family. Anyway, it's definitely a show with a lot of potential. Though the odds on it's getting a chance to develop that potential don't look promising.

I shall await Season One of the Cape to finish and complete reviews from Eryk, Sharky and Doublechinner on whether it stayed good!

I don't want to get burned like with Heroes which turned into a huge suckfest!

I'm totally with you, EDE, about seeing an actual costumed hero again! And I don't mean to give the impression this is classic television. "Lost," it's definitely not. Got it's got great bones, and I hope, unlike poor "Heroes," the creative team can improve, rather than tear down. The other thing I realize is that I've ALWAYS had a big thing for the true caped, hooded hero of the 1930s and 40s--Hourman, Spectre, Green Lama (!?!). It's such a simple but powerful and intimidating visual, it has an almost genetic memory kind of impact. So, it's a big thrill for me to see that done "live action" and done rather well. It's also great to have an articulate response to Edna Mode's classic declaration, "No capes!"

We've recently got into the BBC "Robin Hood" Series via Netflix.ca, and it's been really fun. The whole cast is great (particularly the villains), the writing's punchy and it's been a great series for "Done-in-one" television. For a Comics connection, Paul Cornell was one of the writers in the first season.

We're almost done Season #1 and Seasons #2 & #3 are available (I assume on the US Netflix as well).

So I actually thought the third episode of The Cape definitely showed signs of improvement. This is totes looking like a Fringe more than a Heroes in terms of quality-trajectory.

I caught most of it last night, my first chance to see it. There's obviously already a lot of backstory, and not knowing it confused me at various points.

I also thought that what I saw of what the cape itself can do looked pretty goofy and how the hero reclaimed it at the end seemed silly. Is that what the cape does? Grab things and hit/slice things?

Seemed like the Cape did his worst Christian Bale as Batman impression, too, with the voice. I understand the need to disguise, but it never comes off as anything but silly.

Some of the acting was good, but the lead himself seems a little too wooden.

I might check out the pilot and future episodes, but I wasn't nearly as impressed as I was by those early episodes of Heroes.

The Canadian/American remake of Being Human was... Interesting. The Effects were better but the acting was worse. The plot is moving in a different direction already and the cliffhanger was good. It was funny to see Canadian settings and hear Canadian music and then be told they were in Boston. Would American Audiences really turn on it if it was set in Montreal?

My wife and I completed the final seasons of Tudors last night--one of the best series to hit television ever. I highly recommend this to anyone at all who loves drama and intrigue. People with a passion for history will get an added bonus (but it's not necessary).

The acting is outstanding and the creators pulled no punches--yet didn't go out of their way to be needlessly controversial (and with King Henry VIII, the controversy is already firmly there).

The series ended perfectly.

I felt a familiar emotion from watching the finishes to Rome, Deadwood and especially Lost. I'm thrilled it ended on a high note, but I'm sad to see it go.

Just watched this week's Hawaii 5-0, and wow! What a great bit a television! First off, an exciting episode in and of itself, as the team has to solve the disappearance of the head of the Tsunami Warning Center against the tense backdrop of an oncoming Tsunami, but then it suddenly and unexpectedly tied into a plot from a previous episode, and then set up a new mystery at the end! This show just keeps getting better and better!

^I watched that episode Sunday, Edie, (as it aired after the football game) my first full ep of the season. Not bad, I'd say! Good cast, hints of ongoing subplot--if there were more sex, I'd be sure to watch more!

I was actually wondering how someone who hadn't been following the series would react to the episode, because it really shifted from something that seemed like a standalone episode to relying heavily upon the emotions evoked by previous episodes.

Caught encore presentations of the first two eps of Being Human tonight. So far, me rikey! Will definitely check out episode 3 this Monday!

My enthusiasm for "The Cape" is steadily declining... it took me a while to get caught up with the third and fourth episodes, and when I did watch them, I was kind of bored... shame since it seemed pretty promising...

I'm still liking the Cape, but it does have problems. The flashbacks are really annoying me, for one thing. The inconsistencies in his abilities are kind of annoying as well. On the one hand, he seems to have unrealistically mastered too much of the stuff the circus folks taught him in the first episode, but then he makes a stupid mistake of not being able to use his cape against the wind on top of the moving train last episode.

I loved, however, the head of prisons or whatever as his groupie in the latest episode, as well as the tension between his career as a super-hero and the fact that his allies are, well, criminals.

I'm undecided on this as well. The whiny-ness of the characters is getting on my nerves already. And vampires are *so* boring! It is kind of cool seeing Jacob as the head vampire or whatever however!

Hello everyone! It's been a long time.

I've seen many good flicks since my last post.

But I will start with a disappointment. The Bridge Over the River Kwai. Considered one of the best films ever. I don't see it. Sure it had that honor and principal thing but I just didn't see it as such a big deal. I did see it as head games between the japanese general and Alec Guinness' character.

This may be the first time I've seen William Holden acting. It was a decent portrayal of the disillusioned army man.

I have to admit the ending was fantastic. One of the best ever but the 2 hours and 40 minutes that it took to get there...painful.

Decent acting, great ending.

^ I've never seen Bridge on the River Kwai. Or The Great Escape. All my brothers and Dad love their World War II movies so I'm not sure how I missed them.

Sorry to hear BotRK isn't that good because I think I'd still like to see that one one day - if only for William Holden. I really like that actor. Ultra Jorge - see Sunset Boulevard and The Wild Bunch if you want to see some really good William Holden movies.

I've seen loads of things recently. Trying to remember them all...

* The Shield Season 7 (final season) - LOVE THIS SHOW! Anyone else here watch it? VERY, VERY, VERY good show - one of the best cop shows ever. Acting, writing, directing, music... everything about this show was on point. Very sorry to see it go. That said, I was a teensy bit disappointed with the ending. I was fervently hoping something different would happen with one of the characters. Can't complain though - those writers gave me seven seasons of pleasure (even if that pleasure was a <strike>little</strike> lot confronting and hard to take at times).

* The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and The Girl who Played with Fire - (proviso - I haven't read the books). God, these movies sucked! The first one was SO completely blindingly obvious from the very first scene and the second was just a boring drudge. It didn't help that the main male character was completely lacking in any personality or charisma or that the main female character was such an artificially constructed, geeky-emo-male's wet dream fantasy come to life - she's 5ft, tattooed and pierced, amazing with computers, amazing at self-defence, amazing at sex (whether it be with a guy or a girl)... ugh. I'm sure the books have things going for them but based on what I've seen from these films, I never want to find out.

* Up in the Air - I really liked this one. George Clooney picks good films IMO and he's really good in this one. So is the whole support cast around him. Funny and sad. As someone who used to fly a lot for work I could relate to the story somewhat too. I'll see this one again one day.

* True Grit (the original) and Rooster Cogburn - other than bits and pieces of a few when I was about 5, I think these were the first John Wayne films I've ever seen. Really not seeing what the big deal was with the guy. Not a very good actor. That said, he's pretty good in True Grit and the movie is all-around excellent too. Great writing and directing and a fab supporting cast here too (including Robert Duvall and Dennis Hopper). I think even someone who didn't like 'Westerns' would enjoy this movie. It's sequel Rooster Cogburn is pretty much just an inferior re-tread however, though it does have a pretty cool extended raft-escape scene and Katharine Hepburn is in it for those who are fans of hers (I'm not really one of them).

* Blue Velvet - Great movie. Weird and creepy and disturbing but also romantic and beautiful and haunting. I can definitely see why it's considered a classic. The scene where Dean Stockwell sings Roy Orbison's hit In Dreams is amazing. I was a big Twin Peaks fan back in the day so it's interesting seeing Lynch using some early versions of techniques he used in that show here too.

* Black Swan - I liked it. The story (and it's conclusion) were pretty plainly telegraphed almost right from the start but I don't think that really mattered. Even if the end was a little obvious it was still a pleasure to watch Aranofsky's impressive filmmaking and directing skills and Natalie Portman's incredible performance - she definitely deserves the Oscar IMO. What wasn't fun though was the annoying group of teenage girls who sat behind me and whispered and giggled all the way through the movie! I have murderous thoughts toward people like that!

More movies later as I think of them...