2010 in Moving Images
TV has taken my life over like an imperialistic regime, let’s just say I spent at least 8 hours in a week catching up on TV shows. Let’s see some of my personal favorites of this year.
1) How I Met Your Mother – This comedy is like a huge mystery to us fans – WHO IS TED’S WIFE ?! This season has its basic humor and a little surrealism to elevate it above the past seasons. New schticks and the usual awesome Barneyism. Looking forward to the end to find out (I) who is the wife ? (II) will Robin and Barney end up together eventually ? (III) Will Lily and Marshall have tons of kids? – but not quite looking forward to the last episode as well since this is apparently the last season.
2) The Big Bang Theory – Needless to say, these 4 brainiacs are as adorable as ever since the past 3 seasons. Interesting addition to the group is Amy Farrah Fowler, a girl who is a friend, but not Sheldon’s ‘girlfriend’. I love how she’s the female version of Sheldon. Sadly I find that Leonard’s story is dying down alil but always good to see Raj and Howard getting more lines. Will be interesting to see how Amy and Sheldon gets into a relationship and whether Leonard and Penny will get back together.
3) The Walking Dead – Rise of the zombies ! For those of you who have yet to read the comics (Neither have I, but soon!) will most likely to find it convincing, both visually and emotionally. I love how realistic and established the scenes were and it is definitely one of the most intriguing shows this season. Looking forward to more brains, guts, hearts and the undead.
4) Lie To Me – Tim Roth is really magnetic and charming as Cal Lightman, the soul of the story. I enjoy the acting of the cast but not quite the plot which tends to digress into not-so-important details. It is still fascinating to watch how the Lightman group solves these crimes nonetheless.
5) Community – Meta-sitcom structure aside, Community has wonderfully drawn characters and remarkable cast. I totally love Abed and Troy, they never fail to bring a blast to the end of the show which happens to be the best last few minutes of each episode. Not sure how long can they last in college but will be looking forward to more.
6) Raising Hope – Very similar to ‘My Name Is Earl’ as they are both created by Greg Garcia. I like how it is built around the working class and how ‘screwed up’ life can be. Likable characters (The grandma character is hilarious), fun plot and you really can’t resist the charm of the baby. A simple yet very homely off-beat comedy.
7) Running Wilde - Slapstick humor, another way to describe the style would be ‘Arrested Development’ as it is co-created by its producers. There are flaws but some episodes get the humor. I like Kerri Russel enough to watch the show and I’m still amused by how shiny and ‘plastic’ Will Arnett’s forehead is.
8) The Office – This season has been funny so far and probably it’s all thanks to a good cast. Steve Carell has his ways when it comes to ‘mockumentary’ – of course, clever writing helps. I am still lovin’ it.
9) Nikita – After Alias, I think this gotta be the best female kickass show on screen after a long time. Maggie Q is ever so hot and seductive in her character and I’m glad the plot gets better. A fair balance between sub-plots and action, what more can I ask for ?
10) The Vampire Diaries – Guilty pleasure. I really think Damon (on the right) is the hottest vampire around, who really gives a damn about sparkling Edward. Plot aside, gorgeous cast and excellent OST.
Not forgetting I’m always a fan of Saturday Night Live, Family Guy, singing from Glee (not so for the plot), Tower Prep (I know, it’s aired on Cartoon Network and I’m way overage for that..but Drew Van Acker is too cute to resist and anything with supernatural powers is pretty awesome to watch). Hellcats is another guilty pleasure as the story really sucks but the cast is worth watching, based on looks that is. Criminal Minds and NCIS have been interesting but it gets just alil boring after episodes and episodes of similar predictable endings. I catch a glimpse of Parenthood once in awhile but it gets too sappy for me. Not forgetting the ‘to-catch-up-on’ list of Modern Family,Weed, Futurama and Mad Men.
Oh boy, I sure need more time for TV in 2011. Looking forward to Jan when all my shows return !
Movie Buzz : Triple Tap 槍王之王
Triple Tap (槍王之王) is a psychological thriller directed by Derek Yee, starring Louis Koo who plays this Champion sharpshooter while Daniel Wu is his fellow marksman and police officer, they met at an IPSC competition and later Koo gets involved in this robbery case that Wu was investigating. Their confrontation reveals the different back stories and brings out a myriad of lies as the two try to outsmart eachother. Think along the line of The Mentalist or Lie To Me but wrapped in a typical old school Hong Kong crime movie.
Despite the fact that it’s an all star cast and the male leads are drool-worthy, they weren’t exactly great in terms of acting. Both have a standard facial expression without any emotions. They were so ‘serious’ that it was too funny to watch – guess it quite backfired the whole idea of having two ‘cool’ men pulling triggers at each other. I almost choked at Louis Koo’s ‘Are You Ready?’ Sadly the two female leads Charlene Choi and Li Bingbing have little scenes to comment about. The plot was trying too hard to be clever that it ended up being pathetic instead. I don’t feel there’s a connection with the audience and it totally did not snag my attention at all.
Not much of an action saga either, although I did notice that Chin Kar Lok is the action choreographer, what a disappointment. I do see potential in this film, especially when the production seems to be above average in terms of Hong Kong films. Well, at least the guns were pretty cool and I learnt what’s IPSC after watching this film !
It’s a pity that this highly anticipated great film turned out like this,perhaps it might be better if watched in Cantonese instead of the monotone mandarin voice-overs. I’ll give this a 2/5 but if you’re a sucker for some asian action or eyecandy moments, then go ahead and catch this film on a weekday. It’s gonna be out on 1st July 2010.
P.S : Following Trailers are all in Cantonese !
I have to mention, nobody beats Leslie Cheung as the marksman in Double Tap (I think Triple Tap is an unofficial sequel ?) Move aside Louis Koo, you need to learn.
