Tag: teen

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Bhav on TV: Teen Wolf Season 1

OK is just me or have MTV recently decided to make some pretty decent shows? I may be lambasted for saying this but I am RJ Berger fan. I am a Teen Wolf (TW) fan. I am on the way to becoming an Awkward fan. When I heard MTV was making a TW show I was thinking or hoping it would somewhat of a modern day rehash with a twist or two. Coming from the channel that brought us “Snookie”, I was expecting another sexed up teen show with crude jokes and no plot, essentially the American version of Skins with werewolves. What I got when I watched was a Taylor Lautner fan’s wet dream, all werewolves, no vampires. Saying I was a little disappointed was an understatement; the only similarities I could come up was the name, it’s based in a high school and he’s on the sports team. But I kept watching because it had 2 of the 3 things that usually draw me towards new shows. When it was being funny I actually laughed and it had a hot female lead (seriously check her out Crystal Reed).  So I kept up with it and I was actually surprised how it managed to keep me hooked week to week. It wasn’t just a soppy mushy love story, it wasn’t an afterschool special with a werewolf and it wasn’t an excuse to sell toys to kids. Though the numerous male topless scenes were getting a little old towards the end of the season (possible drinking game?). There was a thought out history and background and the characters weren’t just clichés or basic archetypes slotted in to move the story along. The creators had done their research like in one of the episodes, mountain ash kept a wolf at bay, a quick google search later explained that in Belgian folklore no house is safe unless under the shade of a mountain ash. And for you fight club fans there is a recipe for Molotov Cocktails in one of the episodes. After watching the entire series I can honestly say it was great story arc with some nice twists and turns, though I won't recommend it to everybody, I wouldn't discourage others from watching it either. It just leaves me wondering how they are going to top it with the next series without resorting to adding any new monsters (please please please no vampires!!!!) Bhav 4 of 5

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Muni on TV: Lead Balloon

Lead Balloon BBC 2 So it was the end of the fourth series and what a way it ended, let me just say that I’ve become a fan of Jack Dee whilst watching this show, and my god he has not disappointed this series. I didn’t really know what to think about what was going to happen to this series as it still had the regular cast, and I didn’t really know where the story would go. I think it has been a successful series with a great story throughout, the Robbie Coltrane  episodes were really good considering the second episode was just between two people and was still entertaining. Overall I’d say this has as usual been a wonderful show to watch and a definite show to catch on the iplayer. 8/10 Right so I was hoping to review The Sopranos this week as well but as it has been a busy week, I’ve been rushing to finish the 6^th and final season, but not done yet. I’m sorry about this and will get it reviewed for next week. Spending so much time watching The Sopranos I haven’t really been able to watching anything else. However I would say I caught the last 15 minutes of Dirty Sexy Things on E4, and from what I saw I would definitely be tuning in next week as well as catching up on 4OD. There is a show called The Hour that starts on BBC2 around the 17^th of July will let you know about the date next week, from the advert the show looked very unique and interesting and definitely will be watching that. Also, Teen Wolf started this week on TV and I didn’t even realise this was being made. Silly me! Again from the advert the show looks like a mix of Smallville with a bit of Kyle XY and One Tree Hill, a pretty unique mix, will try to review next week. Finally from what I believe the final episode of The Kennedys will be on BBC2 next week, so will review tat in a couple of weeks too. Follow me on Twitter: @munikazi

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Sucker Punch - An Alternative Review

Samuel Goldwyn is once alleged to have said “Pictures are for entertainment, messages should be delivered by Western Union” - referring to Western Union's Telegram Service running as it was in those days. Therein lies the heart of the enigma that is Sucker Punch. For a start we don't use telegram services (except the Queen, bless her, she's still catching up). Secondly, we want messages from our films now. We want them to make sense and we want them to mean something - to evoke that sense of wonder and introspection us that everyday life (and TV) doesn't. Thirdly, and most importantly, we are losing our creative expression through social change, techno-absorption and general lack of depth in our new generation's (virtually non-existent) cultural education. This is observable in the spoon-fed junk that Hollywood produces on a regular basis - i.e. we are losing value and insight in our entertainment - especially from films. They are being dumbed down beyond belief. Enter Zack Snyder. What he has created in sucker punch is a layered piece of cinema for a new generation: Layer 1 - A girl, abused by her step dad is sold to a mental asylum that is a front for a full service female services operation. This by itself would have been a terribly depression and dark story. Layer 2 - The girl's imagination is projected into her conscious reality and we see her transpose events from her real world into action adventures in an alternate reality. Layer 3 - The alternate realities are are extractions from pop culture and science fiction, full of zombified nazi's, samurai demons, dragons and other science fiction and fantasy themes that speak to the minds of a generations brought up on Lord of the Rings, Anime and Manga, Star Wars and more. Layer 4 - The film itself is a double allegory with the dreams representing the film's real world and the decisions and actions representing decisions and actions in our world. Although in execution there has been a simplification of these layers, Snyder's cinematic poetry still shines as a remarkably original piece of digital expression, fast, frantic and accessible to the net generation with no extra concentration required. Alternatively, if you just want to see a gorgeous teenage blonde with a sword, and a gun, and a school uniform, hack-up everything in sight for about an hour and and a half, you will also enjoy this film - Let's call that Layer 0.   8/10