JulipMarker

James St Patrick is a little bit black James Bond, little bit gangster hip--in short, perhaps he is the next Denzel, a versatile actor with style and who is a pleasure to watch as he plays to and away from the social and racial stereotypes of the 21st century. The overall plot line might sound so-so (street punk becomes drug kingpin leads a doublelife as a night club mogul trying to outwit an old white disco powerenterprise while unwittingly having an affair with a cop, his childhood love, who could could at any moment bring him down) but the writing within this overall plotline and the filming and acting is so strong that one cannot help but check in every week and then impatiently await the next episode to find out who is on top, how, why and what secrets might or might not get uncovered. Behind all of this are exciting issues of trust, greed and social image. Excellent scripting, but even better gestual and facial expressions that often say so much about the internal motives of each character. I think one might keep their eyes on this show--as perhaps these actors need to be nominated for an Emmy, especially Omari Hardwick and Lela Loren.

Excellent, extremely exciting, well-written and acted with flair--Manhattan is transportation back in time to the moment right before the Atom bomb. A picture of American idealism and paranoia, human error and scientific wet dreams. The teams of scientists and the flock of military MPs and support around the 1940s Los Alamos project have come back to life. Manhattan is filmed so that you can almost taste the dust--and want to back up because we all know what is coming. This show is cinematic in its scope, resonant, trying and captivating all at once.

As sexy spy girls go, the fashionable Annie Walker (played by Piper Perabo) is no bad apple against-the-system turncoat changing her stripes again and again as her needle seeks its true north (ie like we saw on Alias or Nikita with their covert smoke and mirrors disguises plus a lot of martial arts as they have no other choice but to work for cancerous outgrowths of the system or heavy hitter secret agencies that are often more powerful than governments). Rather Walker--like that down home kind of Tex-American character name sounds--is a true believer in the system and her true north is found as she keeps trying to protect it. Yet, as a spy who generally believes in the CIA and doing "the right thing", Annie and her entourage often find themselves compromising the system in order to weed out corruption in high places. Fun, sexy, sweet, full of punch and action--this is a show which delights because it is action plus good friendships, based on love and trust in a mire of the ever-distrustful.

I imagine Defiance viewers are old Battlestar Gallactica or Star Trek and even Star Trek next gen watchers--ready for the special effects, the alien and human and interspecies mixes and the use of these to address metaphorically the kinds of issues in any human society--power, family, race, tradition, change, comaraderie, feminism, trust, etc. Season one delivered in spades, and was a great success. Season two, however, is the town of Defiance under various socio-political shifts.--As season 2 unfolds it is still fun to watch with solid episodes, but the strong, underlying mystery of what is going on for Irisa is perhaps unfolding a bit too slowly as the "power" shifts with Datak seem to be in a constant back and forth flux, half the time concerned with a women's rights for Datak's wife and fellows, half the time concerned with male power bonds and status in the gang-like society Datak once dominated. This said, the overall tradition of this show is being maintained and Defiance is full of excellent make up effects for its many peoples and characters. It is well acted and enjoyable.

One might fear a goofy Michael J Fox retro movie echo, but this MtV show now in its fourth season is no comedy. Dark, gritty, and well acted with actorss that have that sexy teen look of the Vampire Diaries but also have fine adult actors, not to mention Derek, which means a bit of eye candy for all ages of viewers. Season one was perhaps the "tamest" of the lot, establishing characters while the actors and writers began to stretch their wings, but it was in the haunting season three where one of the lead characters is sadly killed off that the show demonstrated its ability to dig deep beyond the fun sci fy myths of werewolves and monsters to feed those monsters with history, context, and mythology. Season four has continued that trend, with a visit to Mexico and the sense that beyond and behind all of these extra genetic talents there may be also some mythology worth unpacking, or killing for. The strong are again victims doing their Buffy the Vampire Slayer style best to sleuth out the enemy and save the day/school/town. This is a great show, fun, exciting, well cast and acted and filmed. Worth my 5 stars.

One of the hottest new summer shows. Excellent acting, writing and filmed with attention to the aesthetic of the camera--and the pretty boy actors and the sexy DA (alas to be replaced in season 2) aren't hard on the eyes either. Overall, though, the greatest asset for this show is that it sinks its teeth into its plot twists and turns to keep one guessing--wondering who is on top, which characters know what information, and what will these men (and the one woman--the secret plant of the Angelicos in the legal system) do to get power or revenge. Is any balance possible in this world? Certainly it would be less of a rush to watch if there were. What keeps viewers coming back is that at the end of each episode there is that Breaking Bad sense of "What?! I have to wait to see what comes next?!?" Already the Cain and Abel conflict between Carlos and Daniel has been put into place for season 2, along with the question of how the new hefe, pretty boy, ivy league educated Daniel, will fill Javier's shoes.

Perhaps the best TV show since 6 feet under. Reinventing the southern genre + crime and grit -- even the cliché alcoholic cop is turned to good use. Never heard dialogue on TV like this--meaty and smart, it's like savoring a great novel. The actors are aged in fabulous ways and though much of this "takes place" in an interrogation room, the sense of it being recounted in a stilled space does not come in too often to detract from the gripping story unfolding. Season 2 is anxiously awaited!

A splash of Monty Pythonesque humor mixed into a biblical end of the world conundrum--the antichrist is coming of age and while forces of angels and demons are readying for all out war the original "snake" and "apple" from the garden of Eden are feeling a bit miffed about it coming to an end. What other potential outcome could there be? Much is to love in this show, with a sexy horsewoman of war and a horsewoman of pollution in place of pestilence. There is also a cute mutt of a hellhound who has moved in with the "family next door" in a tiny British village, a family who did not know they brought the antichrist home from the nursury by mistake. A bit of a switch at birth and perhaps the universe benefits? Can the apocalypse be averted, or at least put on hold? Colorfully filmed, with great costumes, amusing earthly attachments by both angel and demon and best of all--excellent dialogue, full of over the top puns of course. All round, a show to check out.

This new show is a weekly blast of adrenaline. Sharp dressing, somewhat old scool too cool for the playground acting makes this amusing to watch. Each individual episode has a "bet" around whether the "player" can save the day and get the bad guy, which we as his viewer, hope he does, at pretty much any cost. But the longer plotline is also serving up a spicy plate of suspicious behavior and tantalizing tasty backgroud of all the characters. To what end? Well, I for one think The Player is promising an eventual episode or series of episodes where all of what we do not know will collide in a fabulous show down tell-all that keeps viewers like me coming back for the breadcrumb clues heading the show towards this eventual climax.

Season 1 of Graceland was a hit—filmed with sultry light including many scenes out on the boardwalk or beachfront giving viewers a taste of that salty air, leaving the grit of the sand in their teeth, and luring them back with an enticing plot line. It brilliantly developed its characters and lured viewers back as they sought to understand the mysterious covert past of Briggs and decide whether or not Mike and the house should trust him. Overall, the plot arc of season 1 traced a single culprit (Jangles) while unveiling a layer of deception within the Graceland house itself . Season 2 has unfortunately been more caught up with issues of political power (Mikey as the one in charge with a DC connection, Paige struggling to get anyone official to sign off on bringing down the human trafficking ring and Dale as one unable to win his battle against the child custody system). Although season 2 has explored a bit more some of the minor characters—really giving Johnny (and actor Manny Montana) the opportunity to shine and show his stuff as he goes undercover with Carlito and family then takes that undercover life into his own personal life and thus his mother’s home—it has failed to develop the alluring options set up in season one. Even the filming of season 2 has been more generic cop show than the overpretty (and thus unexpected and unusual) aesthetic of the first season. My greatest criticism would be that the writers of Season 2 seem to have lost the opportunity to focus on and expand their exploration of the Briggs-Mike dynamic which nourishes the enticing question of what are the moral and immoral choices ‘we’ would allow on the path to putting the baddest guys behind bars, thus in the name of ‘good’ or ‘right’. I give this 4.5 stars out of 5 for season 1, and 2.5 out of 5 for season 2. Note: I do hope to see USA give a green light for a season 3 but that the writers return to the dynamics of season one and expand on the Briggs-Mike, Briggs-Paige, Briggs-Dale trust and plot openers awaiting expansion.