Movie & Television Reviews

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Title: Peaky Blinders
Created by: Steven Knight
Written by: Steven Knight
Directed by: Otto Bathurst, Tom Harper, and Colm McCarthy
Starring: Cillian Murphy, Sam Neill, Helen McCrory, Annabelle Wallis, Paul Anderson, Iddo Goldberg, Sophie Rundle, Joe Cole, Ned Dennehy, Tom Hardy, Charlotte Riley, Noah Taylor, and Aimee-Ffion Edwards
Genre: historical fiction, British TV Drama
Warning: This show is violent.

Summary: Tommy Shelby (Cillian Murphy) is the charismatic leader of a Birmingham, England crime organization known for its distinctive and lethal razor-brimmed caps. As the ambitious, deadly Tommy leads his crew to ever-greater success after World War I, they come to the attention of a chief inspector (Sam Neill) who is sent from Belfast to rid the city of its criminals. Annabelle Wallis costars in this period thriller from the writer-director of “Locke.”

Here’s the Wikipedia entry on the Peaky Blinders — http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peaky_Blinders — Yep, they were were a real criminal gang based in Birmingham, England. And because they were so notable and interesting, a show, aptly named “Peaky Blinders,” was created about them — http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peaky_Blinders_(TV_series) — that currently has two completed seasons (12 episodes) and is waiting for a third.

Link: Peaky Blinders on Netflix.

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I avoided this show because I’ve found that crime dramas usually draw me in before attempting to tear my heart out emotionally and I didn’t think I could handle another show like that. But finally I gave in to Netflix’s constant recommending, and I’m glad that I did.

Cillian Murphy as Thomas Shelby sucked me right into the story of a crime family expanding its hold over the city of Birmingham. Starting out as small-potatoes, due to Tom’s cleverness and planning, the Shelby family and the Peaky Blinders become a power to be reckoned with. And in the meantime they amass … Read the rest “RE TV SHOW: Peaky Blinders [crime drama, historical]”

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Tyrant-FXTitle: Tyrant
Genre: drama
Created by: Gideon Raff
Starring: Adam Rayner, Ashraf Barhom, Jennifer Finnigan, Justin Kirk, Noah Silver, Anne Winters
Blurb from IMDB: Series tells the story of an unassuming American family drawn into the workings of a turbulent Middle Eastern nation.

Info borrowed from Wikipedia: Tyrant is an American drama television series created by Israeli director, screenwriter, and writer Gideon Raff and developed by Howard Gordon and Craig Wright. A 10-episode first season has been ordered by the American cable network FX. The series premiered on June 24, 2014. The pilot episode was written by Raff and directed by David Yates.

Bassam “Barry” Al Fayeed is from the fictional war-torn country of Abbudin. He has been living in self-imposed exile in Los Angeles for nearly 20 years. Barry, the younger son of Baladi’s dictator, ends his exile to return with his American family to his homeland for his nephew’s wedding. His arrival leads to a dramatic culture clash, as he reluctantly returns to the familial and national politics he once left.

I watched the pilot of FX’s Tyrant and I am eagerly anticipating the next episode. There is such a great framework and the potential for a truly amazing show.

Barry Al Fayeed is a pediatrician living in California with his wife Molly and two teenaged children, daughter Emma and son Sammy. But Barry is also Bassam Al Fayeed, second son of Khaled Al Fayeed, presidential dictator of Abbudin.

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Dracula on NBCTitle: Dracula
Created by: Cole Haddon
Starring: Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Jessica De Gouw, Oliver Jackson-Cohen, Victoria Smurfit, Thomas Kretschmann, Katie McGrath, Robert Bathurst, Miklós Bányai
Network: NBC
Airs: Friday nights on NBC

Synopsis borrowed from IMDB: Series introduces Dracula as he arrives in London, posing as an American entrepreneur who maintains that he wants to bring modern science to Victorian society. In reality, he hopes to wreak revenge on the people who ruined his life centuries earlier. There’s only one circumstance that can potentially thwart his plan: Dracula falls hopelessly in love with a woman who seems to be a reincarnation of his dead wife.

I wasn’t interested in this show at first, as I’d caught part of episode 2 and it was too hard to figure out what was going on. Then episode 4 was airing after Grimm, and I got curious. So I went on Hulu and caught myself up from the first episode and…

This show is amazing.

Jonathan Rhys Meyers is a Dracula that was captured by the Order of Drago, locked in a coffin, and entombed. He is awakened centuries later and given the chance to enact his revenge against those that killed his wife, tortured and beat him, and have been hunting his kind with impunity.

Taking on the identity of Alexander Grayson, an American entrepreneur that’s come to London to introduce a science that will replace the need for oil and destroy the finances of his enemies, he is sexy, heartless, and cruel.

During his introduction to Society, he meets the reincarnation of his dead wife Ilona, who is known as Mina Murray and is a medical student desperate to prove that a woman can be a doctor. She is accompanied by her handsome beau, the journalist Jonathan Harker, and her friend … Read the rest “RE TV SHOW: Dracula [drama, horror]”

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Switch GirlTitle: Switch Girl!!
Genre: Japanese high school comedy
Actors: Nishiuchi Mariya, Kiriyama Renn, Sakata Rikako, Jinnai Sho, Mizuki Nana.

Synopsis borrowed from DramaWiki: Based on a manga with the same name created by Aida Natsumi, ‘Switch Girl!!’ revolves around a high school student named Nika (Nishiuchi) who appears to be a stylish and fashionable girl at school, but that’s really a fake persona that she uses when she’s in public. At home, she “switches off” the facade and her returns to her true slovenly nature. Kiriyama Renn plays the good-looking transfer student Arata, who is Nika’s love interest in the story.

Season 1 is 8 episodes.
Season 2 is 8 episodes.

I wasn’t sure what to expect going into this drama. It’s unfortunate, but to me most live-action manga spinoffs have been pretty hit or miss to my taste. This though … my interest was caught and I watched both seasons in one night.

Nika is funny when she’s in Off-mode at home, with her hair in that tri-corn hairdo and her overreactions to everything, and she’s beautiful when she’s dressed up in On-mode. Nishiuchi Mariya really owned the part and didn’t shy away from even the most embarrassing of scenes. I wish there had been a bit more with her sister, because we mostly see Rika in Off-mode with her blue sweatsuit and “old man” manners and the few instances of her dressed up were startling by the difference.

I’m used to watching kdramas, so I was a bit surprised about all the on-screen mentions of sex and love motels, but it’s a cute show and there’s somewhat of an implication of waiting for someone that really likes you for you, rather than just for looks. Plus Nika is a likeable character and Arata in his glasses made … Read the rest “RE TV SHOW: Switch Girl!! [Japanese high school comedy]”

Hello darkness, my old friend,
here I am to gaze again
upon the beauty of thy cheek,
your loving Will dost make us weep.
To see you both so rudely parted,
our hearts were broken,
then restarted, with the fire of our yearning,
for "Season 4!" our hearts are burning.
--Hannibal