Monthly Archives: March 2012

The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn (2011) [Blu-ray]

Posted on March 30, 2012 by

I’ve seen an article that reports that when Steven Spielberg was on the press tour in Europe for the Indiana Jones movies, a reporter put it to him that Jones was really just his grown-up version of Hergé’s Tintin, much … Continue reading →

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Just a Minute (BBC2)

Posted on March 29, 2012 by

It’s scarcely believable that it’s taken 45 years for the popular Radio 4 panel show to make the jump to television: so let’s start by pointing out that in fact it has graced the screen on a number of occasions … Continue reading →

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Touch – E1 “Pilot”

Posted on March 21, 2012 by

No matter how fair-minded and balanced we like to think ourselves, we all have our “problem hot spots” – things that rub us up the wrong way or which we just don’t take to, regardless or how well they are … Continue reading →

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Formula 1 (Sky Sports and BBC Radio)

Posted on March 16, 2012 by

The new season of Formula 1 starts this weekend in Melbourne, Australia, and while there’s plenty of technical details for race fans to obsess over, it’s the seismic shift in the TV coverage of the sport that will be the … Continue reading →

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This Island Earth (1955)

Posted on March 15, 2012 by

Every now and then in the distant past when I was a lad, TV networks used to run seasons of classic science fiction films around 6pm in the evening. One of them was typically This Island Earth, a film that … Continue reading →

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Murder by Death (1976)

Posted on March 14, 2012 by

Murder by Death has a protected place in my memory that renders it forever immune to objective criticism. It is, I think, the first “proper” film I saw in the cinema (by which I mean one that wasn’t either a … Continue reading →

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Leverage S3 E1-5

Posted on March 13, 2012 by

If you’re looking for deep and meaningful content, look elsewhere. Leverage is as light-weight and paper-thin as it’s possible to get. Not that this is necessarily a bad thing. There’s a place in the world of television for some light-hearted … Continue reading →

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Grimm S1 E1-4

Posted on March 12, 2012 by

There’s a later updated review for Grimm now available. Grimm gives the impression of having been sold to the network on the one line premise of “police procedural investigates modern day takes on fairytales.” A “CSI: Red Riding Hood”, if … Continue reading →

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True Blood S4 E1-5

Posted on March 11, 2012 by

Contains spoilers up to episode 5 of the series. I was going to write a mid-season review of the fourth season of HBO’s vampire series True Blood, but then I looked up what I wrote about the previous season last … Continue reading →

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Doctor Who: The Masque of Mandragora

Posted on March 10, 2012 by

While I appreciate that I probably have something of an “avid Doctor Who fan” reputation, the truth is that my Whovian education is sorely lacking in some key areas. There are several periods of the classic series where I was … Continue reading →

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Homeland S1 E1-3

Posted on March 9, 2012 by

I feel I’m missing something about Homeland, the new US drama series from the Showtime cable channel now airing in the UK. The story of a US marine who comes home after eight years as an Al-Qaeda captive, this remake … Continue reading →

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Unforgettable S1 E1-9

Posted on March 8, 2012 by

It would be delightful if it were possible to do a one word review of Unforgettable as being “Forgettable”, but that would be both glib and unfair. Instead, it’s a perfectly proficient police procedural just like dozens of others, okay … Continue reading →

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