Derek Review

Ricky Gervais is the simple man named Derek. Netflix "new" show. Never mind that it played on the BBC first, they picked up the rights to air it stateside first. So we got 7 episodes of this show at once, as usual with Netflix. You can burn through the half hour long episodes real quick if you can sit through it that long. I made 5 before I had to stop.

Derek is about Derek Noakes, a nursing home helper and is a bit slow in the head. The show is a mockumentry style Gervais made famous with The Office. I was skeptical of how funny or how much I'd enjoy a show making fun of a mentally challenged person. But I gave it a shot. The first episode was a bit tough to get through, because I felt they were making fun of the mentally handicapped but that soon faded. While being funny, it was kind-hearted and had some genuinely sad moments, none at the expense of Derek's unnamed disability.

Defiantly not a pretty people show.

I am very much over the mochumentry style tv shows. I feel they have been over done and are generally not funny to me. Mainly because Reality TV shows are the same thing, staged/written events filmed with shaky cams and fake people talking at you. That is not to say I haven't enjoyed an episode or three of any Reality TV or mochumentry style show. I just prefer single camera narratives, shows that are like movies with big stories to tell. Derek has the over arching problem of not going anywhere fast. But is that a problem of the style or that it's a comedy? Hard to say. They do throw in a story of they have to come up with their own money to fund the nursing home but they gloss over if and never explain things.

Interesting product placement randomly thrown in.

The acting in this is generic British stand-in characters that can't exist in the real world. I have a hard time believing any of these people, aside from Derek, are real. Ricky Gervais does an outstanding job but I have yet to see why this show is around. Gervais based Derek on a character he used to do in his stand up. And the others are cardboard cutouts for him in interact with. It's been a week since I've seen it and I can't remember anyone's name.

"You can't remember my name? You dick."

Over all, I did enjoy the show. It was fun and touching all while been completely pointless. But when it comes down to it, isn't every show in some way pointless? So would I recommend it? Yes. You'll get attached to the Derek character very fast, rooting for him. You'll burn through this very fast, 30 minutes or so doesn't fill to much time. So pace yourself, and enjoy what little you are given. It's now on Netflix, give it go. 3 out of 5.

Doctor Who - "The Crimson Horror" Review

Doctor Who is my Jam. I love this show. Which usually puts me in these blinders and a bias about it in general. But something started to form last season. Something I couldn't talk about because Whovians would  throw a shit fit. Well, here we go. I do not like how Steven Moffat writes. Blasphemy, I know. It's like he doesn't know who to follow in the show. Episodes where the Doctor has been away for 100 years, or that Amy and Rory have been gone 5 years are maddening. Remember when Russell T Davis was the lead writer and the stories would connect? You always saw where the Doctor was next. He would step into the Tardis and the adventure would continue from there. Not years later. As well as, Moffat write as if the last 50 years of Doctor Who didn't happen, and ignores everything in the past... eh, that's a cheap shot, because he does make little nods. Ok, so he brought River Song with, but her story is weak as hell. I felt we should have had at least one god damned episode where she was the companion. Another thing about that episode, Spoilers Ahead!

Movie of the Week: Frequently Asked Questions About Time Travel

"Hanging at a local pub, Ray, Pete, and Toby meet a lovely young woman who claims to be a time traveler from the future. As she spins her wild tale, the skeptical Pete stumbles into a time portal--in the pub's toilet--and sets off a wild adventure that results in a comedic crisis of mistaken identities, close calls, romance and anarchy--with the future of mankind at stake." - HBO Go.

So I was recently watching an episode of Game of Thrones on my Kindle Fire through my HBO Go app and I thought; "What other stuff is on here?" A quick search through their movies and I found this film. I had never heard of it. I never saw a trailer, read a review, or even knew who was in it. I only knew the title and the description you see above. But I was sold because I love time travel stories. And this movie is funny. I think I enjoyed it more because I never heard of it and went in blind. Sure Anna Faris is in it, but I didn't know that until I saw the opening credits. That had me worried that it would be a shitty comedy, a bad parody, or worse; feature a lot of Anna Faris's bad acting. But she is barely in this movie and she doesn't do a bad job or make me want to stab myself in the eyes at all this time around. It's a British comedy, and co-presented by the BBC as well as HBO. It's a location movie where they stay in one place the whole time but done in a way that doesn't feel like it. As well as you can actually feel like these guys are friends and feel like friends I have. It's not over the top and it doesn't leave you feeling like you wasted your time. The effects aren't bad either.

The trailer below is only if you need further help pushing you to want to watch the movie. I recommend going into to it with out watch it, but to each's own. It's fun, different, a nice story, and very enjoyable. Not the best, but good. Check it out if you have HBO Go, or buy the dvd on Amazon. (Remember, if you have HBO from your cable provider, you have access to HBO Go as well. It's included.)

House Of Cards Review

On Friday Netflix released its first original series, House of Cards. With it they did something new. They released 13 episodes of season one on the first day. No waiting a week for a new one to come on or those annoying "season breaks" a lot of shows are taking after only 4 or so episodes of being back. Now, Netflix is taking a big risk with this show. They sank $100 million into it, paying for 2 season up front. This is great for the creators of the show, giving them breathing room, allowing time to build and write a story they want. Netflix also managed to grab some great talent on the show. Kevin Spacey, Robin Wright, Michael Kelly, and Kate Mara just to name a few. While this maybe Netflix's first stab at producing a show, not just what they did for Lilyhammer (which was purchase distribution rights to be the first to air it in America), it is still not a true original show. 

 House of Cards is based on of the show of the same name from the BBC. That happens to be a popular trend these days with American entertainment. Rebooting old shows/movies or Americanizing British television. I for one am happy that they just haven't tried Americanizing Doctor Who yet. Whats that internet? America is trying to make a Doctor Who movie? Yeah, that was a rumor, the BBC shut that shit down real quick after the uproar from fans pointing out that it would have been an Awful idea. Whats that internet? What about Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure? That was more a comical nod to Doctor Who, not a remake. Get your head out of your ass internet and focus. Back on task. Now, I have not seen the original House of Cards, nor had I heard of it before the American series. Hell, I didn't hear about the American one til about a month or so ago. I may try to find the original and check it out, but it may be too British for me. I might just have to put Danny on that one. What was I doing? Oh right... 

On to the Review!