Jeff, Who Lives at Home
Director: Jay & Mark Duplass
Running Time: One hour & twenty-three minutes
Certificate: 15

I can’t say I’m a huge fan of Jason Segel’s. I’m not really convinced that he’s contributed anything worthwhile (as of yet) to the world of cinema. I’ve watched the occasional episode of How I Met Your Mother, but he’s not even the best thing in that. So, I was rather surprised by the trailer for his newest comedy, Jeff, Who Lives at Home.

Segel plays a thirty-something loser, who still lives in his mother’s basement and one day, Jeff sets off to the shops to buy some wood glue. Whilst off on his jaunt, Jeff looks to the universe for signs about what he should ‘do’ with his life and unexpectedly comes across his brother, sister-in-law and mother.

So, will these unexpected events lead Jeff to discover the ‘meaning’ of his life (as he desires), and will he make it to the shops in time? This is directed by the guys who made Cyrus, which was more miss than hit. However, this does show some promise, and what with me being a Kevin Smith fan, I do have a certain admiration for slacker-bum, characters. It will probably be perfectly forgettable, but it is by far the most interesting thing, Segel has done to date.

How I Spent My Summer Vacation

Adrian Grunberg’s directorial début, star’s the fallen, former Hollywood action star, Mel Gibson. Originally titled Get the Gringo, Gibson plays Driver and rather predictably, Driver is having a very bad day. Having just completed a robbery which would ensure a life on easy street, Driver crashes his car whilst on the run from the U.S. Border Patrol. Unfortunately for Driver, when the car stops spinning, he’s crossed the Mexican/American border and is promptly arrested and imprisoned by the Mexican authorities, who just so happen to steal his loot too. The first thing Driver needs to do is escape from El Pueblito (the worst prison in Mexico), and there’s the small matter of reclaiming his money.

This all sounds vaguely reminiscent of Payback, but with a smattering of Xenophobia: The Movie A.K.A Taken. The latter largely because it will feature Gibson, shooting almost every Mexican in Mexico, but don’t worry he’s definitely not a racist. But the trailer does have a certain charm and Gibson can most certainly handle action and that grizzled voice-over just reminds me of Payback’s Porter, which was probably Gibson’s last great action character. It’ll most probably be rubbish, but you never know…

Angele et Tony/Angel & Tony
Director: Alix Delaporte
Running Time: One hour & twenty-three minutes
Certificate: 15

Angel is a beautiful young woman with a troubled past, who moves to a small fishing town in Normandy. There she meets Tony, a local fisherman who finds himself attracted to her, despite disliking her abrupt manner. Against his better judgement, Tony hires Angel as a fishmonger, rents a room to her and teaches her the tricks of his trade. The relationship between Tony and Angel is far from easy, but eventually, both parties adapt and little by little, Tony and Angel fall in love. A romantic drama, but uniquely French.

Juan de los Muertos/Juan of The Dead

The tag-line for Juan of the Dead is, ‘50 years after the Cuban Revolution, a new Revolution is about to begin’, and that’s something of an understatement, obviously. Cuba isn’t being invaded by American’s, as the inhabitants fear, but zombies!

Juan of the Dead is about Juan, a 40 year old who has spent most of his life in Cuba, doing absolutely nothing. It’s his way of life, and he’s prepared to defend it at any cost, along with his equally lazy and stupid pal, Lázaro. Juan’s only relative, is his daughter, Camila, a beautiful young girl who wants nothing to do with her father, because he’s only good at one thing, and that’s getting himself into trouble. However, out of the blue people start attacking one another. At first, Juan is convinced it’s just another stage of the revolution, with the media referring to the attacks as isolated incidents, provoked by Cuban dissidents, paid for by the US government. But Juan and his friends quickly realise that these attackers are not dissidents – they’re zombies!

And so, Juan goes into to business as a zombie slayer and even establishes his own slogan, ‘Juan of the Dead, we kill your beloved ones’. It sounds bonkers, it looks bonkers and I’m willing to bet, it is bonkers… I’m there!

Un amour de jeunesse/Goodbye First Love

This is another French drama – French cinema really is on a roll at the moment – and Goodbye First Love, chronicles a teenager’s first heartbreak. At the age of fifteen, Camille is a serious teenage girl, who falls intensely in love with the cheerful, but carefree, Sullivan – an older boy who has his sights set on backpacking around South America. And so, when Sullivan leaves, Camille is devastated, but over the next eight years Camille will develop into a strong headed woman, with new interests and loves. However, when Sullivan re-enters her life, will she revert back to her defenceless fifteen year-old self?

This is the third feature film from the French director, Mia Hansen-Løve, whose last film was the critically acclaimed, Le père de mes enfants/Father of My Children. This should offer a unique view of teenage love and specifically how that first love, can shape the rest of our lives.

Monsieur Lazhar

Monsier Lazhar is based upon the French play, Bachir Lazhar, by Evelyne De la Chenelière. It’s about an Algerian immigrant who is hired to replace an elementary school teacher, who recently died. Whilst his new class/school, come to terms with its grieving, nobody is aware of their new teacher/colleague’s own painful history, nor that Bachir is at risk of deportation at any moment.

Monsier Lazhar depicts what happens when to two distant worlds collide and the power of self-expression. It appears to feature great sensitivity and humour, and Philippe Falardeau has weaved a breath-taking tale about a humble man, who is ready to transcend his own loss, in order to accompany the children he teaches, beyond the silence and taboo of death. Simply breath-taking French cinema and my pick of the week.

Le Moine/The Monk
Director: Dominik Moll
Running Time: One hour & forty-five minutes
Certificate: 15

This Vincent Cassel film, The Monk, is set in seventeenth century Madrid. Cassel plays the titular monk, Ambrosio, an orphan who was abandoned on a monastery’s doorstep, and who was raised by the Capucin Friars. Once grown, Ambrosio becomes a friar himself and displays a great zeal for preaching, with his sermons drawing massive crowds and earning him great admiration; for his extreme vigour and absolute virtue. Ambrosio foolishly believes he is safe from any temptation, but is he?

Cassel has great screen-presence and this film about temptation, corruption and religion looks to be a well-directed piece, but it’s unlikely to find a big audience in cinemas – so see it if you can.

Avengers Assemble

Avengers Assemble - stupid title! – doesn’t really need a synopsis. What’s the point, it’s just a band of YOUR favourite MARVEL superheroes, thrown together to fight some unstoppable force. Although the villain in this film is Loki, who’s already been defeated (last I saw), in last year’s Thor, so I’m not sure what’s gone on since Loki last tangled with his superhero brother, he’s obviously been eating his vitamins and saying his prayers.

As you’ve probably guessed, I don’t have much love for MARVEL’s newest film or any MARVEL film for that matter. I always thought each of their individual superhero jaunts - Iron Man, X-Men: First Class, Thor & Captain America - were all far too long, so heaven knows what the running time of this will be… longer, at a guess. You know, I hope that by Joss Whedon directing this, it facilitates him to make something half-way decent, otherwise, what was the point? If you like watching men in tights hitting each other with big hammers and shields, then you’ll probably love this. Moi, not so much.

Happy People – A Year in The Taiga

The synopsis of Happy People has Herzog written all over, so it’ll come as no surprise, that it’s my film of the week.

Herzog narrates this documentary about a remote village where 300 people live. They face some of the most hostile conditions on earth and inhabit the village of Bakhatia. There are only two ways to reach the small village and that’s by either helicopter or by boat. In this isolated wilderness, there are no phones, no running water and no medical aid. The people, who live here, do so according to their own values and cultural traditions, which have remained unchanged for centuries. And in Happy People, Dmitry Vasyukov and Werner Herzog, give us a glimpse of this curious village and its unique way of life. Do yourself a favour – just go and see it!

Iron Sky
Director: Timo Vuorensola
Running Time: One hour & thirty-three minutes
Certificate: 15

And so, the film about Nazis returning from a secret base on the moon, to overthrow the earth is finally released, but was Iron Sky worth the wait and can it possibly live-up to the hype?

Iron Sky is a Science-Fiction film directed by Timo Vuorensola and during the final moments of WW2 a top secret unit of Nazis, evade capture by fleeing to the dark side of the moon. Whilst in exile, the Nazis construct a gigantic space fortress and have even built themselves an armada of flying saucers, but when an American astronaut lands a little too close to the Nazi base, the Moon Führer (Udo Kier) decides it is time for the Nazis to retake the earth. Sound bonkers, right? But anyway, it’ll certainly make for a fun trip to the cinema.

Elles

The trailer for this French drama directed by Malgorzata Szumowska certainly looks interesting, however, I suspect it might descend into bourgeois navel-gazing. It’s about Anne, played by Juliette Binoche, who’s a well-off, Paris-based investigative journalist for ELLE magazine. Anne’s newest assignment involves writing an article concerning student prostitution, specifically about female students turning to prostitution in order to pay for their university fees. Anne meets with two fiercely independent young women, Alicja and Charlotte, and in doing so she has her own profound revelation, which leads to Anne questioning her most intimate ideals about money, family and sex.

Madrid, 1987

Madrid, 1987 is about two writers, one a celebrated journalist, Miguel (Jos Sacistn), and the other, Angela (Mara Valverde), a beautiful, young, undergraduate journalism student. Miguel agrees to meet with Angela to give her an interview, but the much older writer becomes intent upon seducing the aspiring journalist. The two end up spending a great deal of time together and rather inexplicably (from the trailer), that time appears to be spent in the bathroom, where they discuss literature, prose and career trajectories, whilst sharing a bath. Nice!

As the two chat, so they gradually divulge little snippets of information about themselves, revealing Miguel’s cynicism and Angela’s intentions. This will be a discussion on writing, journalism, careers, ageism and politics, and looks to be shot mostly in confined spaces. This is a rather exciting prospect for Spanish cinema.

Arrugas/Wrinkles

Wrinkles is the second Spanish film this week and it’s based upon Paco Roca’s comic of the same title, which won the Spanish National Comic Prize in 2008.

It’s an animated feature about a friendship between Emilio and Miguel, two elderly gentlemen who are shut away in a care home. Emilio has only recently arrived and is in the early stages of Alzheimer’s, he’s about to be shipped off to the top-floor of the care-home, which is also known as ‘the lost causes’ or ‘assisted floor’, but Miguel and his friends are intent on preventing this from happening. This looks to be an insightful comedy about the pains of growing old but with humour and tenderness. The animation may lack a distinct ‘look’, it plainly isn’t as iconic as the recent A Cat in Paris, but regardless, this should be an entertaining watch.

LockOut

I can’t honestly say I ever expected to discover a trailer for a Science-Fiction Action film starring, Guy Pearce, especially one which is produced by the makers of Taken (one of the most xenophobic films in recent history), but there we go, that’s precisely what LockOut is.

So, starring the aforementioned Guy Pearce, and Maggie Grace, LockOut is set in the near future, and it follows the adventures of a falsely convicted ex-government agent, Snow (Pearce). Snow’s last chance for redemption and freedom  lies in a dangerous mission to rescue the President’s daughter (Grace), from rioting convicts on a maximum security prison, which just so happens to be orbiting earth, in outer space – damn! Guy Pearce and the film appear to be channelling Snake Plissken and Escape from New York, which is far from a problem for moi, so much so, that LockOut is unquestionably, my film of the week!

Two Fox Shows Board the Early Renewal Train

It will come as no surprise to most that Fox has renewed it’s Zooey Deschanel led freshman comedy ‘New Girl’, but a pleasant non-surprise in my opinion. It started as a very average comedy but really found its feet as the series moved on, so I’m thrilled we will get to see more. What may have been a little more surprising to some was Fox’s decision to renew for a second season the comedy ‘Raising Hope’. And this is not because the show was suffering from particularly poor ratings or anything, but because early renewals are usually reserved for the absolute certainties, and not to shows with fair (but not astounding) ratings like ‘Raising Hope’. I for one think this is easily one of the best family comedies on TV and am pleased it received the renewal, but I’m even more please to see that Fox are confident enough in the series to grant it this early renewal for what will be it’s third series. Fox have not yet revealed the fates of their bubble shows, such as Fringe, Touch and Alcatraz. And I eagerly await news of their fate, and will be sure to rant about it once announced.

‘Dexter’ Big Bad Joins ‘Son’s of Anarchy’
Dexter alumni Jimmy Smits has been snatched up for a season long arc in the upcoming fifth season of the FX biker drama ‘Son’s of Anarchy’. Word is that he will be playing a gangster called ‘Nero’ who becomes a mentor to newly appointed SAMCRO leader Jax, and stirs up some trouble while doing it. I love this show and became a big fan of Jimmy Smit during his run as Miguel Prado on ‘Dexter’, so this is nothing but great news for me. I expect he will have an equally menacing presence on this show.

Britain’s Got Competition
It seems that Simon Cowell may very well be regretting his decision to intentionally reschedule ‘Britain’s Got Talent’ in order to ensure it was in direct competition with the BBC’s newest talent show ‘The Voice UK’. After several weeks of ‘The Voice’ coming out on top by over 4 million viewers during the overlap and 70% more online searches related to the BBC show, Cowell and ITV this week shifted the ‘Britain’s Got Talent’ start time in order to completely avoid the clash with its BBC rival. A sign of defeat or a last ditch effort to increase their own ratings by giving people a chance to watch from the start? Possibly a bit of both, but I for one absolutely cannot stand ‘Britain’s Got Talent’ and was pleased to see the far superior show pull the larger audience for once.

Mark Your TV Calendars
The BBC has finally set the start date for the return of their Simon Amstell lead sitcom ‘Grandma’s House’, I cannot recommend this show highly enough and it will be back on our screens via BBC Two on Thursdays starting from April 19th at 10pm. But wait there’s more! HBO have set June 24th as the start date for the new Aaron Sorkin penned drama ‘Newsroom’. The trailer for this show hit the web over the last few weeks and really does make the show seem like Sorkin at his usual (aka: very high) standard of brilliance. I don’t quite have the words to express my excitement for this shows arrival; so instead will simply embed the trailer so you can feel it yourselves.

Awake Finale Set
In what will very likely double as a series finale, the last episode of this season of ‘Awake’ has been scheduled by NBC to air in the middle of the all-important ‘May Sweeps’ on the 17th of May. What does this mean for the show? Well, it can be interpreted several different ways, some are noting it’s simple coincidence, that that’s just where the two our finale has fallen in the run. Some more negative people are suggesting this is NBC’s way of giving some validity to a decision they have already made about the shows second season, for example, how it isn’t getting one. Me, I’m choosing to see this as a suggestion that they haven’t actually decided on the shows future yet, otherwise they would have pulled it from the schedule before sweeps or put it on hiatus until after. Unfortunately I still don’t hold out much hope for a renewal, the show has been fantastic, but its ratings have dropped every single week since it started. I believe this is mostly due to poor scheduling on NBC’s part, but these figures simply can’t be ignored.

And finally,
The Ricky Gervais comedy drama pilot ‘Derek’ was broadcast this week, and I have to take a moment here to recognise what an incredible piece of television it was; I was genuinely blown away by how funny and heartfelt this show turned out to be. Karl Pilkington brought some serious laughs while Gervais brought one of the most kind and unassuming characters I’ve ever observed to life with joyous results. It was an incredible experience and I have every possible appendage crossed in hopes for a full series commission, which seems likely based on the ratings and Gervais’s confirmation he is working on more scripts. I was frustrated to read some rather ignorant people talking about how they felt this show was somehow offensive to disabled people. To those people I say, I find it more offensive that you have labelled a kind and loving character we are supposed to aspire to be like as disabled at all. Sure, he is not the brightest, but at what point in the show was he ever referred to as disabled? And even if he was, no jokes were made at that characters expense so there is absolutely no argument to be made. This episode was an absolute triumph and I really hope TV history remembers that fact rather than the small number of reactionary and ignorant responses to the show.

So that’s all for this week folks, come back next week and you will find a new edition of Narratively Minded, or come back in two weeks to find more of the above. In the meantime I’m going to be making sure The TV Rundown hasn’t started smoking or something.

Blackthorn
Director: Mateo Gil
Running Time: One hour & forty-two minutes
Certificate: 15

Blackthorn is the fictional retelling of the Butch Cassidy fable. This story asserts that Cassidy, (played by Sam Shepard), wasn’t killed in a standoff with the Bolivian army in 1908, as is reported. Instead, Cassidy survived and escaped to quietly live out his days as James Blackthorn. However, after years of living in exile, missing his home in the U.S. and hoping to see his family one last time before he dies, Cassidy decides to set off on the long and dangerous journey home. But when the elderly cowboy has a chance encounter with an ambitious young outlaw, (Eduardo Noriega), his plans are derailed and he’s thrust into one last adventure, something he hasn’t experienced since his glory days with the Sundance Kid.

The Western still has a powerful allure for this writer and every few years it seems like some American actor decides to dust of his spurs and Stetson, and wander off into the wilderness. This time it’s Sheppard, and it’s hard not to be excited by this mythical retelling of the Butch Cassidy tale, and as a special bonus, Sheppard’s beard looks magnificent.

The Cabin in The Woods

So plot details and the synopsis are relatively sparse on Whedon’s newest script, The Cabin in The Woods. This is largely due to the films twisty nature but here’s what to expect. A group of five teenage friends, go for a break at a remote cabin in the far reaches of a wooded wilderness. And would you believe it, terror quickly ensues!? Shock horror, right? Well, the band of nubile teens must work together to discover the truth behind the cabin in the woods before they get ‘offed’, one by one.

This is the directorial début of Drew Goddard and like this film’s scribe (Whedon), Goddard is no stranger to TV writing, which is where the director made his name, on shows like; Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Angel, Lost, and he also wrote J.J. Abrams, Cloverfield, but I’m not really sure that’s a good thing. It’s got no real stars to speak of, but it does feature MARVEL’s Thor, Chris Hemsworth. But please don’t hold that against this rather intriguing horror film.

Film of the the week… I think… probably…

At the end of February I wrote an article on my favourite shows to ever be cancelled, and a few people on Twitter pointed out there weren’t any British shows on the list. And in truth the reason was that I simply never felt that passionately about a British show in the face of its cancellation. Sure, there were a bunch of show’s I think I will miss, for example I thought BBC’s ‘Outcasts’ was pretty good and would have been happy to get a second series, but I guess due to the short lived nature of the British TV model, most shows I’m either not expecting to last long or they contain enough closure in their first series that I don’t notice when they don’t get recommisioned.

Well this week that changed, and if tasked with creating that list now, BBC Three supernatural drama ‘The Fades’ would be almost definitely have a place reserved on it. The show hit our screens in late 2011 and immediately grabbed my attention as a fan of genre TV. But I could never have predicted exactly how much I would come to love the programme. Every week my anticipation for the new episode would grow as it’s wondrous, complex and suspenseful plot unfolded in front of my very eyes.

The Fades, for those unaware, follows British teenager Paul who discovers that not only can he see ghosts, known here as Fades, but he might just be destined to save the world. But it was so much more than it’s slightly unoriginal sounding premise; it was supported by astoundingly clever characters, perfectly paced and executed drama and a fantastic cast and crew. It could be funny or heartfelt without compromising it’s genre and not only was the mythology deep and interesting, it was explored slowly so the audience weren’t overwhelmed. It was one of the most intelligent character driven drama’s I’ve ever had the pleasure of watching, and this week it was cancelled.

My first thought when I read the news that one of the shows stars, Johnny Harris, had confirmed the cancellation in an interview, was that the actor had been somehow mistaken, that he didn’t know what he was talking about and the BBC would clear this up within a few hours, and likely even go as far as to commission the second series in response. But the clarification never came and I became angry at the BBC for not commissioning more episodes, angry at the fans for their feeble attempts to drum up support while the show was running and angry at myself for not doing more to promote and support the show.

That was when, remembering the brilliant set up the first series left us with for a potential second, I started signing petitions and sending emails to the BBC, desperately trying to make someone see sense. I even contemplated getting credit cards to purchase hundreds of copies of the first series on DVD. By the time the realisation that this would all be in vain occurred to me, I’d slipped into a rather helpless and depressed state. Then it dawned on me that I’d experienced the first four of the five stages of grief, and besides realising that the next stage is acceptance, the experience had really highlighted for me exactly how much I loved this damn show.

It was a surprisingly bold and confident series. As I’ve already hinted it was a story that didn’t feel the need to show it’s hand in it’s first episode, in fact, by the end of the first episode I had no idea where it was going with any of the event’s I had just witnessed, but over time it revealed itself to me, and the plots and characters started to come together and the mythology driving the show started to make sense. This is partly what made the show so appealing to me, because it was very satisfying to see everything come together this way, but the more I think about this the more I see how casual viewers might struggle to stick with a show taking this approach, as they are usually looking for quick pay offs in their programming.

In many ways it was ahead of its time, the UK is only just now starting to appreciate the more complex serial dramas the US has been producing for a handful of years now, and had this been released a few years down the line it might have been received differently. Because of this it seems ‘The Fades’ simply became a victim of lack of public interest and the ever-growing budget cuts at the beeb. And in many ways, while I’m sad to see the show go, I understand why it was cut. I guess that means I’ve finally reached the acceptance stage. So ‘The Fades’ is gone, but I won’t be forgetting it anytime soon, and neither should you.

So, that’s all for this week, come back next week for The TV Rundown or the week after to read more of the above, and I promise it will have more direction and structure.

North Sea, Texas
Director: Bavo Defurne
Running Time: TBA
Certificate: 15

North Sea, Texas, is a coming-of-age tale about the pains of unrequited love, from the Belgian director Bavo Defurne. It tells the story of Pim, a lonely, gay adolescent, who lusts after his neighbour and motorcycle enthusiast, Gino, whilst another neighbour, Sabrina, longs for Pim’s attention – oh how the road to true love is never straight forward. This is Defurne’s first feature length film, the rest of his output thus far has been a collection of shorts, but based upon this trailer, he could be a director to watch. Defurne’s debut certainly looks intriguing.

This Must Be The Place

Christ! A Sean Penn film that I actually want to watch, this is a great week for cinema. Penn plays the wealthy former rock-star, Cheyenne, who looks an awful lot like Robert Smith of The Cure. Anyway, Cheyenne, now in his retirement, is bored and jaded with life, and upon hearing that his father is near death, travels to New York to be beside his father, who he hasn’t seen for over thirty years, before he dies. However, he arrives too late but discovers that his father suffered great humiliations, whilst being held in in Auschwitz, at the hands of former SS Officer, Aloise Muller. Cheyenne’s father was desperate to take his revenge on his persecutor, and so his son (Cheyenne), will pick-up where his father left of.

As with any road movie – which this unquestionably is – Cheyenne will be awoken by the people he encounters on his journey, much like Bill Murray’s Don Johnston in Broken Flowers, and before coming face-to-face with his father’s nemesis Cheyenne will have to choose whether he is seeking revenge or redemption. An unexpected surprise, and certainly worth the trip to the cinema.

Headhunters

Headhunters is the adaptation of Jo Nesbo’s, acclaimed Norwegian novel and this Norwegian film marks the second that I’ve featured in Knotted Fur, in as many weeks – now that’s a consecutive rarity! For the majority of the American and British audiences, this film’s biggest star will undoubtedly be the Danish actor, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, who stars in HBO’s, Game of Thrones series. But anyway…

Apart from being vertically challenged, Roger is a man who (apparently) has it all. He’s Norway’s most successful headhunter, he’s married to an exceedingly beautiful woman, Diana, and has a luxurious villa. However, to keep all that he has to resort to a side-line career, in crime, stealing famous paintings and artworks. But his final big heist might just be his last – SURPRISE! Whilst Clas Greve (Coster-Waldau), may appear to be the perfect dupe for Roger’s final big hit, the tables will soon be turned. Greve may well be a chief executive in the electronics business, who’s also in possession of some lucrative artworks, but he’s also a former elite soldier… Doh! Blinded by greed, Roger plans his final heist, but when he breaks into Greve’s house, he finds far more than he bargained for and thus chaos (expectedly) ensues.

A Norwegian action film, yep, you read that correctly, what’s not to like? This looks excellent and I’ll be first in line when I get the opportunity to see it.

A Cat In Paris

Personally, I think this French animation from directors, Alain Gagnol and Jean-Loup Felicioli, looks absolutely breath-taking and it makes a refreshing alternative, to the excellent but now annual Miyazaki releases. Its European-ness also makes this an attractive proposition.

A Cat In Paris weaves together a tale (no pun intended), about a cat by the name of Dino, who leads a double life. During the day, he lives with Zoe, a little girl who lives with her mother, Jeanne, a police officer. Unknown to mother and daughter by night their cat, Dino, works with a notorious cat burglar, Nico, but Nico is an acrobatic burglar with style, grace and a very big heart.

However, Dino’s worlds collide when Zoe decides to follow her cat on his nocturnal adventures – and falls into the hands of local thug, Victor Costa. So Dino and Nico have no choice, but to team-up and rescue Zoe from the bumbling thieves clutches. This stylish animation has obvious nods to classic noir fiction, but also the humour and wit of the Pink Panther animations – definitely not to be missed and it was an extremely close contender, for film of the week.

Le Havre

So, my two top picks this week are both French! In this warm-hearted portrait of the French harbour city, Le Havre, Aki Kaurismäki, director of, The Man Without a Past, returns to tell the story of a young African refugee, Idrissa, who runs into the path of Marcel Marx, who works as a shoe-shiner. Marcel takes a shining (pun intended) to the young refugee and with the support of his community, stands up to the local officials, who are pursuing Idrissa for deportation.

This has been described as a political fairy tale, which exists somewhere between the reality of contemporary France and the classic French cinema, of Jean-Pierre Melville and Marcel Carné. Whatever, Le Havre certainly has bucket-loads of charm, and if the trailer is any indication, then this will be an absolute delight.

Eddie Izzard to move to ‘Mockingbird Lane’

In what I believe to be an inspired piece of casting, British comedian Eddie Izzard has reportedly been cast in Bryan Fullers remake of ‘The Munsters’ currently titled ‘Mockingbird Lane’. Izzard is allegedly on board to portray the character of Grandpa, portrayed by Al Lewis in the original iteration. Many online sources are taking issue with the way NBC are billing this project as a ‘One Hour Drama’ the concern seems to stem from the notion that this somehow means it’s going to be a serious take the story, but drama doesn’t always mean that the project will be serious in tone. Based on Fullers previous work, I expect this will be a drama in the same sense that ‘Pushing Daises’ was a drama, a drama in story nature, but tonally very light-hearted and funny. This is perfect in my opinion, because if it were a straight sitcom these days it would probably come across a little cheesy.

’30 Rock’ planning a second live episode

The ’30 Rock’ gang are planning another live edition of the critically acclaimed sitcom. The show successfully experimented with the live format in October 2010 during their fifth season. This second attempt will be broadcast live from New York on April 26th and will likely be performed twice for the east and west coast as they did last time, leaving for specific regional jokes. I loved the first live episode and expect nothing less from an SNL vet like Tina Fey.

‘Comedy Vehicle’ recommisioned

People of the internet rejoice, for it is a wondrous day! Why? I hear you ask. Because it has been confirmed that Stewart Lee’s wonderful stand-up/sketch show hybrid ‘Stewart Lee’s Comedy Vehicle’ has been picked up for not only a third series, but a fourth too. This is easily the finest show of it’s kind on television, but I suppose considering there aren’t many shows like this on television that doesn’t sound as impressive as it might. I’ve liked Stewart Lee for many years, but this show is what finally pushed me into becoming a massive fan. I saw him live recently myself, and if his current show is anything to go by, any future series of this show is bound to be spectacular. It must be noted that the show will take the year off first, meaning series three will broadcast in 2013 and series four will be broadcast in 2014. But I think is probably a good thing, when it’s essentially a stand-up TV series, Mr. Lee will do better to pace himself and not burn through his material. If you’re not familiar with this program yet, check out any clips of the man on youtube, there are literally no bad ones.

‘Doctor Who’ news roundup

Over the last couple of weeks a lot of information has been released regarding the upcoming series, so much so I barely know where to start, but here I go. The upcoming series has been confirmed to be 14 episodes in length, including a Christmas Special. The first 5 episode will feature Amy and Rory and will air towards the end of this year, during this five episode run Amy and Rory will face Daleks, visit the wild west and leave the show in the fifth episode in an adventure featuring the Weeping Angels, it’s an episode which will be set and filmed in New York. In regards to that episode, show runner and lead writer Steven Moffat had to say; “Not everyone gets out alive and I mean it this time”.

After Amy and Rory’s exit, the Christmas Special will introduce us to a new companion, portrayed by former ‘Waterloo Road’ actress Jenna-Louise Coleman. Following her introduction the series will resume shortly after with an 8 episode run that will close off the season and serve as a build-up to whatever shenanigans Steven Moffat has planned for the shows 50th anniversary in late 2013. In regards to the character Jenna will be playing, Moffat had this to say “Who she’s playing, how the Doctor meets her, and even where he finds her, are all part of one of the biggest mysteries the Time Lord ever encounters. Even by the Doctor’s standards, this isn’t your usual boy meets girl.”

And finally on the Doctor Who front, it seems they really weren’t kidding when they said the Daleks are back. Based on some Twitter conversations and some early images from the BBC, it seemed confirmed that the episode would feature multiple Daleks designs. So a possible battle between the RTD era Daleks and the rainbow Daleks of the Moffat era seemed a logical conclusion to draw from that. Then FX crew member John Shepard said this on Twitter; “Working late on Dr Who tonight, it was interesting to see all original Daleks since 1960 in one episode”. This was then seemingly verified when Steven Moffat posted a photo of what appears to be a classic Dalek covered in debris on set with Matt and Karen. I’m pretty excited by all of this news, seems like ‘Doctor Who’ fans have a lot to be excited about over the next two years.

‘Terra Nova’ may go extinct after all

So remember all that stuff I said last week about Netflix potentially taking on prehistoric drama Terra Nova following it’s cancellation from Fox? Well, forget it, it seems that Fox and Netflix have had trouble coming to an agreement that will allow this to happen, presumably as a result of shows unfortunate and astronomical costliness, and it seems both parties have stepped away from the negotiations. Either way the shows fate looks even worse than it did last week, which is saying something because last week it was cancelled.

Gervais turns fantasy into reality

Ricky Gervais has long talked about his proposed ‘Idiot Abroad’ spin off ‘The Short Way Around’ which would feature the ‘Abroad’ star Karl Pilkington cycling around the world with celebrity dwarf and actor Warwick Davis in the basket in what sounds more like a coke inspired dream Gervais had than a genuine concept for a TV show. It seems that this week, despite Karls insistence he wouldn’t be involved with any more travel shows, a contract was signed that would see this series become a reality. I for one am excited, because Karl did a short (pun not intended) interview with Warwick a few years ago and it led to some of my favourite Karl moments of all time. And besides that, a partner for Karl to riff off is exactly what I felt ‘An Idiot Abroad’ needed. Looking forward to this.

‘Blood and Chrome’ good news and bad news

A couple of weeks back Syfy let loose an astounding trailer that set the internet alight with desire for their ‘Battlestar Gallactica’ prequel ‘Blood and Chrome’. The problem is that then mere days later they announced they weren’t picking it up as TV series. Rumours are strong it will become a webseries, which presumably will just be the already produced pilot split into a couple of webisodes, but even that isn’t confirmed as of yet, right now all Syfy have announced is that it’s a candidate for that. I’m going to embed the trailer below so you can revel in the utter injustice and despair with me.

After an utterly fantastic series finale, which followed a very strong series in itself, it has been announced that Being Human will indeed be back for a fifth series, despite many predicting its demise. It seems the crux of the predictions were based on the drastic change to the principal cast the show went through this year, but ultimately in my opinion it gave the show new life, I was thoroughly impressed. And next year is set to see more changes as the last remaining principle character from the first series seems to have been replaced in that final episode as well. But based on this season I see no reason to be concerned about that. I could see this cast taking us right up to series six. And I won’t be complaining.

And finally,

I know I mentioned this last time, but tonight will see Game Of Thrones return to our screens at 9PM here in the UK on Sky Atlantic, and you owe it to yourself to be watching. The first series was truly wonderful and I fully expect the second to be just as riveting. And on top of that, the early reviews have suggested my confidence in this series in more than warranted. So don’t show your face here next week until you’ve already seen it. Just kidding, visit either way…

So that’s all for this week, come back next week for a dose of my other bi-weekly article ‘Narratively Minded’ (That’s right Rundown readers, I’m cheating on you with another article) or come back in two for more of the above.

Tiny Furniture
Director: Lena Dunham
Running Time: One hour & thirty-eight minutes
Certificate: 15

Lena Dunham writes, directs and stars in her newest film, Tiny Furniture. Dunham plays Aura, and as the poster suggests, Aura wants you to know that she’s not very happy. This is only the director’s second feature film and her first, Creative Nonfiction, premiered at SXSW in March 2009.

The 22-year-old Aura returns to live with her artist mother after her boyfriend leaves her to ‘find himself’ at ‘Burning Man’. All Aura has is a useless film theory degree (not at all familiar), 357 hits on her Youtube page, and a dying hamster. Clearly, she’s one of life’s winners. This is going to be a quirky and pretentious film with a New York setting, so I for one will certainly give it a go.

The Island President

Jon Shenk’s documentary, The Island President, is the story of Mohamed Nasheed, until recently the President of the Maldives. Nasheed was a president confronting a greater problem than any other world leader had ever faced—the survival of his country and everyone living on the island. Sadly, Nasheed resigned as president in February, after he was threatened with violence in a coup d’etat, carried out by security forces loyal to the country’s former dictator. This of course appears to leave the country’s future in the hands of the gods. But its central message concerning global warming is still valid.

A rise of just three feet in sea level would submerge the 1200 islands of the Maldives, which would be enough to make them uninhabitable. The Island President is a documentary about Nasheed’s first year in power and his struggle to elevate the discussion of climate change, something which will have an impact upon us all. The first of two interesting documentaries this week.

Corpo celeste

Corpo celeste is set deep in the south of Italy and it’s the story of Marta, a 13-year-old girl who is struggling to adapt to life in her native homeland after a ten year stay in Switzerland. Corpo Celeste marks the debut of Alice Rohrwacher, who directs and writes here and her film looks to be a sensitive discussion concerning the moral and religious layers that can smother adolescence.

The bright-eyed and restless, Marta, investigates her new home taking in Italy’s unfamiliar sights, sounds and smells, but she’s unable to shake the feeling of being an outsider. Marta is about to undergo the rite of confirmation but she confronts the morality of her local Catholic community and through a series of subtle moments she begins to connect and conflict with her mother, sister and Sunday school teacher. All leading to Marta taking her first steps to controlling her own future and life.

Babycall

Noomi Rapace stars in this Norwegion thriller/horror, which is something of a departure for the actress as of late, what with starring in Hollywood epics, Sherlock Holmes 2 and the forthcoming Sci-Fi extravaganza, Prometheus.

Anyway, Rapace plays Anna, a single mother who moves with her eight-year-old son to a new flat, outside Oslo, to escape her violent husband. Anna is petrified that her husband will find them, and is under heavy surveillance by the social services. One day Anna decides to buy a babycall, so her son doesn’t have to sleep in her bed. However, the babycall appears to pick-up the screams of a mysterious child, who lives somewhere in the flats. So, are Anna and her son safe from her violent husband and what of this tormented child who they hear screaming?

I sincerely doubt this will be a revelation, as far as thrillers go, but it’s certainly nice to see Rapace in something other than an American production again. Maybe wait until it’s out on DVD.

The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists
Director: 

Aardman’s newest animation sees ‘The Pirate Captain’, setting out on a mission to defeat his arch rivals, ‘Black Bellamy’ and ‘Cutlass Liz’, in the competition for ‘Pirate of the Year Award’. The quest takes the Captain and his intrepid crew from the shores of Blood Island to the foggy streets of Victorian London. By the look of trailer this will incorporate all of the trademark wit and humour, which we’ve come to expect from the Bristol based animation-studio. With it’s arrival anybody would think it was half-term…

Into The Abyss: A Tale of Death, A Tale of Life

This week’s top pick was an easy choice, despite the strong competition. Bavarian film director, Werner Herzog, is on one hell of a roll after his move to America, with hit after hit since 2009′s, My Son, My Son, What have Ye Done, and fortunately his current success shows no sign of waning.

Into The Abyss is part of Herzog’s ‘Death Row’ project, which also includes a collection of shorter TV films and it is a film I have been awaiting for some time now. It’s a documentary exploring violent crimes and their consequences, not just for the individuals involved but society at large. Herzog focuses his documentary upon Michael Perry and Jason Burkett, both of whom were convicted of a triple homicide, committed in their home state of Texas. Whilst Burkett didn’t receive the death penalty, Perry was interviewed on camera just days before his execution. Along with these interviewees, Herzog also talks to their families and those of the victims, and those who are intimately involved in the administration of execution. This should be a fascinating subject for Herzog to investigate, a subject which conjures up the movie maestro’s favourite themes.

Ok, so I’m probably going to lose a certain level of Internet street cred as a result of the following statement, but not only did I watch the UK version of ‘The Voice’, I also really enjoyed the first episode. So first of all I have to say, as many will know from previous Narratively Minded entries I’m not as against reality TV as many of my peers, but I am very particular about what I watch. I don’t just watch anything, I prefer competition based shows and shows that at least have some semblance of authenticity about them. So while I have been known to be partial to a bit of ‘X-factor’ and ‘The Apprentice’ in the past, I wouldn’t go near ‘Jersey Shore’ or anything with the words ‘Real’ or ‘Housewives’ in the title.

This weekend I sat down to check out the latest BBC talent show, ‘The Voice’. Now, this show started last season in the US, and as soon as I heard the premise I must admit I nearly watched the US version there and then, but in the end one thing or another meant that I never got around to it. But I did make a mental note to make sure I didn’t miss it if it were to come back to US screens. But by the time the second season of US version was on the horizon, I saw that the BBC was developing a version for the UK, and when I saw who the coaches were going to be, I couldn’t help but hold off just a little longer to check out what the UK version was going to offer. So unfortunately I have no idea how this show differs to the US version, but I do know one thing; I absolutely loved the first episode.

The premise is one of those wonderfully elegant ideas that’s so simple and obvious, that when you first hear it you spend a few seconds certain it must have already been done, because you can’t fathom the idea that no one has thought of it yet. In this case, it is the idea that musicians in this competition are judged purely on their voice and nothing else. The judges sit with their backs to the musicians and decide if they are interested in having them on their team without being able to see them. If the coach likes what they hear they hit a button and their chair rotates revealing the act to them, and at the end of the song that artist wins a place on the team of the coach that turned around. If more than one judge turns around during the song the power switches as the artist may choose their coach from those who turned, leaving the coaches to try and convince the musician they are right for them. If no one turns around during a performance, then the artist leaves the competition at this point.

Beyond the audition stages I can only assume the coaches take their 10 musician strong teams through a series of elimination stages until they are each left with 1 artist to be pitted against each other in the final episode. You may have already noticed I used the word musician instead of singer, this is because the show is a little more accommodating of people who want to play their own instruments while performing, and while they can’t be judged based on these extra curricular talents, it does encourage more true musicians to audition than the ITV equivalent show does. And in the first episode that did seem to have an effect on the type of contestant walking through the door, far more genuine artists and far less people seeking fame via the convenient medium of singing without any true musical talent to back it up.

Another advantage this show has on the other major singing competition this county has is that it didn’t contain any classless segments dedicated to the humiliation of the gullible. You see, on ‘The X-factor’, the first auditions that take place on TV are actually the fifth audition stage. Each singer has been through four stages with various producers before they are put before Simon Cowell’s band of merry men. Ever wonder why all the really bad singers on ‘The X-factor’ seem massively deluded about their abilities? This is the reason, by putting them through four stages before the televised one; by the time they get there they have been led to believe they are immensely talented. And after inflating the contestant’s egos in this way behind the scenes the producers then push them out onto a stage encouraging and allowing them to embarrass themselves in front of the entire country. It’s a disgustingly cheap and classless tactic and I find the very notion to be abhorrent. ‘The Voice’ on the other hand does no such thing and all of the people stepping up to the microphone have at least a modicum of talent. Which also means the overall standards are higher and that competition is tougher from the get go.

‘The Voice’ also has an astoundingly well-designed cast of coaches. The producers have been clever and assembled a genuinely delightful mix, all with talent and skills in different areas of music. Every coach has a clear ear for talent and a personality to go along with it. I found myself becoming rather fond of will.i.am, who it turns out, is much wittier, more intelligent and well spoken than I imagined. But the other coaches all bring something to the table as well; Sir Tom Jones carries his experience and the authority that comes with it like an absolute pro. Jessie J brought her status as the most current and contemporary coach on the panel while Danny O’Donoghue brought a lot of honesty and humour to the role and occasionally doubled as the host, leading conversations directly following the performances.

The contestants were a suitable mix of people from different backgrounds both musically and personally. And while the show did let you in a little when it comes to their personal lives and occasionally delved more specifically into their reasons for choosing a show where appearance counts for nothing, it felt more like an exercise in getting to know them and their motivations better rather than deliberately pushing for sob stories to overtly pull on our heartstrings as an audience. Instead it made us care about these people just enough in order for us to want to see them succeed. On more than one occasion I found myself egging the coaches into pushing that damn button, and if that’s not a sign of great TV I don’t know what is.

Only time will tell in regards to how well this format works in the long run, but purely based on the first episode I think the BBC have got a real hit on their hands. I for one thoroughly enjoyed it and am in no way shamed to say I’ll be watching again next week. If you haven’t seen ‘The Voice’ yet, it airs on Saturday nights at 7, or you can catch it on iPlayer.

Thanks for reading.

The Hunger Games

I’ve just read the encyclopaedia or more accurately what passes for The Hunger Games synopsis. Man, that in itself is bloated and tedious, so what hope does the film have… Not much!

In the not-too-distant future, the United States of America has collapsed. The USA has been renamed and replaced by Panem, a country divided into the Capitol and twelve districts. Every year, two young representatives are chosen by a lottery to compete in, ‘The Hunger Games’. A televised gameshow kind of like The Krypton Factor, but with knives and bows and arrows, which is basically, a complete rip-off, of Battle Royale, but a PG13 version for the yanks – way to go America! When Prim, is selected to enter the games for her district, her older sister Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence) volunteers to take her place. Katniss and her male counterpart, Peeta (Josh Hutcherson), who’s the local baker, have absolutely zero fighting skills, but somehow I’m sure, they’ll see it through until the end, well, Katniss certainly will.

This is based upon the novels by Suzanne Collins, so I’m sure there’s something more to this than a mere Battle Royal rip-off, although to be perfectly blunt, I don’t think I can muster the enthusiasm to find out what.

The Kid With a Bike

Set in Seraing a young boy, Cyril (Thomas Doret), is abandoned by his father and left in a state-run youth farm. In a random act of kindness, the town hairdresser, Samantha (Cécile De France), agrees to foster him on the weekends.

The Kid with a Bike is directed by the Dardenne brothers, the French filmmaking duo’s previous films include; The Silence of Lorna, The Child and The Son. The film won the Grand Prix at 2011′s Cannes film Festival, and it shared that win with last week’s Turkish film, Once Upon a Time in Anatolia. The film appears to be a critique on absent fathers and it’s trailer has far more charm than its American cousin.

Wild Bill

‘Wild’ Bill Hayward (Charlie Creed-Miles), is released from prison after serving eight-years inside. Bill returns to the East End streets where he grew up and decides he needs to skip town and leave his tough-man reputation, in his shady past. However, that proves difficult for Bill, after he visits his family and discovers his ex-wife has deserted their two sons and left them to fend for themselves. Bill’s older son, Dean (Will Poulter), is fiercely independent and wants nothing to do with his father, but when suspicions are raised about who is looking after the two boys, Bill agrees to stay with them, to avoid raising the social services suspicions any further. Stuck in the East End of London, which Bill is so desperately trying to escape, he must decide whether to face up to his parental responsibilities, risking association with his old thugs and new criminal cohorts, or make a run for it, forever.

This is Dexter Fletcher’s directorial début. Yes, that is Dexter Fletcher from ITV’s Press Gang and this looks to be an impressive début. Ok, it isn’t a particularly brave or even refreshing look at British culture, it is after all just another gangster flick, but at least it has some interesting nuances, which is a rarity in this most awful of genres. If The Kid with a Bike is about absent fathers, then Wild Bill is about absent father’s returning and learning to do the right thing, no matter the sacrifices they have to make.

Wild Bill is my film of the week, but if you can, why not make a ‘double bill’ out of that and The Kid with a Bike. The one thing you can say about this week’s releases – with the exception of the awful Hunger Games – they certainly have synergy.

‘Terra Nova’ Cancelled

And what better way to prove my point than by starting with a story as old as time. Yes, that’s right it seems Fox have indeed ditched their dino-drama ‘Terra Nova’. And while I enjoyed much of the show, I’ll be the first to admit it was more than a little uneven and I won’t be too sad to see it go. Possibly the more interesting aspect of this particular story is that rumor has it Netflix are currently negotiating with Fox to acquire the rights to produce new episodes of the shows themselves. When combined with the news that Netflix are producing new episodes of Arrested Development, this news, if true, is a very interesting development and may very well be the first step in TV moving away from the broadcast model to an internet based on demand model.

Returning To ‘Grandma’s House’

Simon Amstell announce last week on his Twitter account that new episodes of his charming comedy series ‘Grandma’s House’ will be broadcast sometime in April. The series was filmed towards the end of last year, and I for one cannot wait to see how it turned out. It was one of my favourite discoveries of 2010 and I really cannot wait to see more of this Amstell penned show, semi-based on his own life experiences. And I highly recommend you keep your eye out as the exact date will no doubt be announced in a more official capacity in the coming weeks.

‘Alcatraz’ Hit’s A New Low

In ratings news, last week saw struggling Fox drama ‘Alcatraz’ hit a new low, in both its ratings and creatively in my opinion. The 10th episode titled ‘Clarence Montgomery’ fell 11% to a series low of 1.5 in the demo, 5 million viewers total. I don’t think Fox will have any choice but to cancel this show soon with numbers like that. But to be honest, these poor ratings were just as well, as the episode itself was really uninspired and in my opinion was the weakest of the season, which is a real shame because the week before had been really strong.

‘Person Of Interest’ Hit’s A New High

On the other side of that ratings coin, last week’s ‘Person Of Interest’ managed to reach a series high of 3.3 in the demo, and 14.92 million total viewers. But I didn’t really have time to tell anyone how certain this made the renewal of this show seem before CBS went and announced they have renewed it for another season anyway. No word on how many episodes were ordered, but based on these figures I would be surprised if it wasn’t a full 22-episode order. I’ve very much enjoyed this show and am happy to see it find it’s audience.

Casting Quickies

– Garrick Hargon, best known for playing Biggs in the original Star Wars film will be featured in an upcoming episode in seventh series of ‘Doctor Who’. He will be appearing in the episode currently being filmed in Spain rumoured to be a western episode titled ‘The Gunslingers’.

– Renowned physicist Stephen Hawking is set to appear as a guest star on the April 5th edition of ‘The Big Bang Theory’, and will definitely be sharing screen time with Jim Parson’s character Sheldon Cooper.

– Dexter alumni Julie Benz and… other Dexter alumni Jamie Murray have joined the cast of the new SyFy series ‘Defiance’.

– British actor Neil Morrissey has been cast in ABC’s ‘The Walking Dead’ for season three as a very influential and villainous character from the comic books called ‘The Governor’.

- SNL cast member Will Forte has apparently been cast in Fox’s basketball comedy pilot ‘Rebounding’ from Modern Family co-creator Steve Levitan.

– British actor Simon Pegg has been cast in the pilot Frank Darabonts TNT adapatation of L.A. Noir. No details of the role, or whether it is recurring or one off have yet been released. Although I don’t expect it to be a large role considering Pegg’s other engagements.

‘Skin’s’ Cancelled… (sort of)

Long running British teen drama ‘Skins’ was cancelled this week, about five minutes before they announced the show would be going back into production for next year. Confused? Well it turns out that the iconic show won’t just be pulled from the air unceremoniously, instead Channel Four intend to make 3 feature length episodes for next year, each split into two parts and aired over three weeks these episodes are designed to wrap up and send off the show and will contain characters from all previous generations of the show. Since they intend to produce three features, one can assume each will be dedicated to one of the previous three generations of the shows cast. I don’t know about you, but I honestly am looking forward to seeing how Michelle, Sid, Cassie and Tony are doing these days. The question is, how successful will Channel Four be at reuniting the cast? Only time will tell I suppose.

More ‘Episodes’ episodes?

Showtime have confirmed the second series of the hilarious Matt Le Blanc, Tamsin Greig and Stephen Mangan led comedy will return on July 21st. There really isn’t much more to this story, so I will use the remaining words to tell you that you should be watching this show, and if you missed the first series, now is your chance. Take it. You will not regret it.

‘The Walking Dead’ Ambles To Victory

Sunday nights ‘The Walking Dead’ was the highest rated episode in the shows history, getting a 5.8 rating in the demo and 9 million total viewers. Which may not quite seem record breaking, but when you consider that ‘Person Of Interest’ had six million total viewers more, but had a little more than half the demo rating you quickly realise how well this show is doing, especially for a network like AMC, who no doubt have similar numbers in mind for the big return of ‘Mad Men’ next month on March 25th.

Andy Samberg and Greg Davis Go ‘Cuckoo’

Saturday Night Live legend Andy Samberg is making his way across the pond to star along side Greg Davis in a new BBC Three sitcom called ‘Cuckoo’. Not much is known about the show but with Samberg and Davis I’m pretty excited for the projects prospects. Samberg will play the lead in the show of a character who marries a British girl, and has to deal with her overprotective father, who will be played by the former ‘Inbetweeners’ star and stand up comedian Davis.

And finally,

This week I’m going to end on a recommendation for a show that airs between now and my next Rundown. Which is easy, because only one program screams recommendation over the next two weeks, and that’s the second season Games Of Thrones which starts on April 1st in the US and shortly thereafter here in the UK. Consider this early warning an excuse the catch up on the shows amazing first season if you haven’t already.

So that’s all for this week, make sure you come back next Monday for another edition of Narratively Minded and the week after for another TV Rundown.

Thanks For Reading

We Bought a Zoo
Director: Cameron Crowe
Running Time: Two hours & four minutes
Certificate: PG

We Bought a Zoo is based upon the book by Benjamin Mee, about his real life story in which he bought a zoo, although all of this took place in Devon, England, as appose to America; the zoo in question being, Dartmoor Zoological Park. Anyway, Mee approved of Crowe’s changes and so here we have, We Bought a Zoo!

Crowe’s adaptation, tells the story of a recently widowed father of two, Benjamin, played by Matt Damon, who decides to move his young family to the countryside to renovate and re-open the titular zoo. Whilst doing so, he’ll meet the beautiful zoo-hand, Kelly Foster, (Scarlett Johansson), and fall helplessly in love. And all of this will transpire alongside a beautifully apt soundtrack, because that’s what Cameron Crowe does.

Be warned, this film includes the line… “I like the animals but I love the humans”. Somebody pass me the sick bucket. Cameron Crowe, what on earth went wrong? But still, the soundtrack will be okay.

Once Upon a Time in Anatolia

This Turkish drama is based upon the actual experiences of one of the film’s writers. It is the story of a group of men who go searching for a dead body on the Anatolian steppe. The film premièred at 2011′s Cannes Film Festival, where it was declared the co-winner of the Grand Prix prize. While the official synopsis lacks much in the way of detail, the trailer more than makes up for this, with its breath-taking vistas and scenery; from leaves blowing in the wind, to moustached men looking conspicuous. This is certainly one to watch-out for and I for one will certainly be seeing it, when it eventually hits the South Coast.

The Other Side of Sleep

Arlene lives in a small town in the Midlands, surrounded by fields, woodlands and country lanes. One morning, Arlene awakes in the woodland beside the body of a young woman. Upon this discovery, Arlene realises that someone is watching her from the trees, and shortly after this the body of the deceased woman is discovered, and then suspicion spreads throughout the local, small town community. Confused and scared, Arlene decides to barricade herself in at night, afraid to sleep and haunted by grief, Arlene’s sleeping and waking realities soon blur. But all the while, somebody is watching her every move…

The Other Side of Sleep looks like it’s going to be a rather intriguing British thriller and if the trailers are anything to go by, it’ll feature a dash of surrealism. This is Daly’s first feature length after directing two shorts; Hum and Joyriders. The film certainly has a spooky and eerie feel to it and this film could mark the arrival, of a bright British talent.

Four Horsemen

The Four Horsemen is a documentary from the debuting director, Ross Ashcroft. This documentary looks interesting because it claims to be interested in igniting a discussion about how ‘we’, can usher in a new economic paradigm, something which the filmmaker and interviewees argue, would dramatically improve the quality of life for billions. So, no lofty aspirations here then! The documentary also claims to be free of mainstream media propaganda and that it doesn’t feature; banker bashing, criticism towards politicians or propagated conspiracy theories. So it will be interesting to see what the twenty-three ‘international thinkers’ – including Noam Chomsky – do come up with, aside from revealing how the world ‘really works’, and if there’s the slightest hope of re-establishing a moral and just society. Heavy stuff, and no doubt a deeply thought-provoking and interesting watch.

With the exception of We Bought a Zoo there’s plenty to choose from this week at the cinema and personally, at the top of my list will be the Four Horsemen.

For those unsure of the term, procedural television tends to focus on the ‘Story Of The Week’ model where each individual episode’s central plot, almost always investigative in nature, both begins and ends within the confines of that single episode, whereas serialised television will progress it’s key stories over the course of the entire season. And just to clarify, I’m not suggesting with this piece that I prefer procedurals, the very reason I prefer television to cinema is because television naturally has a bigger canvas to tell it’s story that it’s theatrical counterpart and serialised shows can actually take advantage of this fact and utilise the canvas to their advantage. Taking the chance to tell more intricate stories thoroughly over an entire season of 45-minute episodes rather than telling over a dozen separate stories in 45-minute chunks. But with that said, I think there is still a lot of merit to the procedural and feel that some mismanagement by the networks has earned them an unfair reputation among certain groups.

I definitely haven’t forgotten the many flaws the genre has, but when it’s well written a procedural will stay fresh and interesting for longer than a serialised show because it has more scope and therefore more potential to use a wider variety of stories, settings, characters and even genres week to week. Also, a good procedural will be able to weave a thin running story through all of the episodes that will not only enhance the characters and reward returning viewers for their loyalty, but will also keep the ‘story of the week’ from ever feeling arbitrary and pointless in the grand scheme of things. Procedurals also have the ability to surprise their audiences in a way a serialised show never will by occasionally breaking away from the ridged formula to go somewhere completely different and character driven. This is expected in a serialised show, but always comes as an interesting shock in the procedural environment. And flaws aside, these reasons alone give this genre merit as far as I’m concerned.

So I suppose the questions then becomes, why do so many speak out against them if they have all this potential? In my opinion the problem stems from the fact networks have had a very clear focus on procedurals in recent years, even going so far as to introduce procedural elements into shows that were conceived without them, meaning that the TV landscape is more than a little unbalanced at present, and the more of the genre you produce the more chance of awful ones slipping through the development net and making it to our screens. Meaning that there are way more poorly executed shows in the procedural genre than in any other, and on top of that the shows that most clearly fit the very definition of the genre tend to be the worst ones, utilising archetypes and cliché to a nauseating degree, because of this when people hear ‘procedural’ they think ‘CSI’ not ‘House’, and I feel this partly leads to the genres poor reputation. But this suggests to me that so many of the people speaking out against the genre seem to be doing so as a result of over-saturation rather than an actual problem with genre itself.

But what these people seem to have forgotten is that they are the minority of the TV viewing audience and networks will go where the mass viewers go. And most TV viewers are casual viewers; people who watch TV occasionally or are likely to miss entire episodes of a shows run, they are essentially people not as dedicated to their TV sets as those criticising the genre. In the current broadcast model, casual viewers either can’t watch serialised shows because their busy lives cause them to miss episodes, or don’t want to watch something where a time investment is required to obtain closure, instead these people will turn to procedural shows where they can jump in and jump out and receive closure regardless each and every time. Another reason networks prefer the procedural is that it is much easier for an audience to jump on board with mid-run, so they have more opportunity to grow their audience over time, a truly serialised show is almost impossible to enjoy if you don’t watch from episode one so audiences are therefore less likely to build over time.

I don’t feel that any of what I have mentioned above is a valid reason to dismiss the genre, but thankfully I do not believe it will maintain this perception for long. Some have theorised that as advances in DVR and streaming/on-demand technology will leave less people to be confined to watching TV on a broadcast schedule, effectively making the broadcast model obsolete, and as a result more will turn to serialised television because they will have access to the entire run of their favourite shows completely on demand. I really do believe there is some truth in this, because while those viewers not looking to make the time commitment will not be converted by these developments I think those people who were previously likely to miss episodes will no longer have an excuse and will take the chance to be more selective with their viewing choices. So I do see this turn making the ratio of procedural to serialised shows even out, and that may very well correct the imbalance I believe is currently causing many to dismiss a perfectly valid genre.

Well, thats all for this week, be sure to return next for another edition of The TV Rundown, or come back in two weeks for more of the same in the next edition of Narratively Minded.

Thanks for reading.

PS: And I wanted to add a big thanks to Sam for doing such a great job filling in last week while I caused a minor international relations incident between the UK and Mexico, but that’s another story for another time.