Articles + Quotes on Film & TV

By Sherlock, I mean the British TV show, set in modern London, starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman, two very talented and understated actors. Not the American remake. The first season of this show was brilliant, well scripted and was continuously entertaining. It wasn't obvious, poorly acted, any of that, it was all great. The second season, takes the quality level of the first and the taut script, etc and magnifies everything by a hundred fold. Clever one liners? Yep. More here than four comedies put together. The first episode seems like a three act play and I'm sure the next two movie length episodes will be just as good as the first. And to add even more great news, the third season was commissioned as the same time as the second.

First off, a warning. I did not see the entirety of the pilot episode of this show. Surprising, I know, but those are the facts. Now, there are highly intense TV dramas. And there is this one. This one, defies all normal levels of intensity and fixes it at a atmospherically high level. And then raises it again. My current theory, its because the makers of the show started off by making documentaries, and they kept this style for this show. It is set in Australia, Papua New Guinea, but like Rake another quality TV show, it doesn't show the tourist sites, very much the opposite in fact. It is brilliantly well made, but you don't want to watch this just for production values and the cast, both of which are truly great. Big mistake if you do that.

There are shows that give you hope that in the world of television and people in it, that there are still quality and exciting drama shows out there. I've seen two episode of show that delivers, and already I'm hooked. Basic plot - CIA analyst, Carrie Mathison (played with almost unhinged determination by Claire Danes) who, until recently was working 'in the field' in Iraq. Her main goal, finding a terrorist known as Al Fazir. And the information she got off a prisoner, "Fazir has turned an American prisoner' becomes most intriguing, when lo and behold, an American prisoner of war is found and returned home.                       Her role has already won her a well deserved Golden Globe award. He, Sergeant Nicholas Brody, portrayed by Damian Lewis, also deservedly nominated for a Golden Globe award, has a wife and family. And he has been held captive for eight years. The acting in this is quite top notch, includin...