A very brief overview the movies and t.v. I've been mugging up to on the bus courtesy of my new smart-phone (reading is soooo 2011):
Deadwood (Season 1): watched the first season of this short-lived HBO series from a few years back. Set in a fictitious gold rush town in the mid 1800s, it's a gritty western drama very much in the same vein as Tombstone. It's a little slow for my taste (an issue which is compounded by the 55-minute episode length), but it features some great performances and offers a very convincing portrayal of life in the wild west.
Dexter (Season 6): for a show that "pretty much jumped the shark in the first episode", as one friend puts it, this show has held up surprisingly well given that it's into its sixth season. This season features Edward James Olmos (Adama Sr. from the excellent Battlestar Galactica series) as well as an interesting turn from Mos Def. I don't want to give anything away, but it looks like we're set up for an interesting beginning to Season 7...
Treme (Seasons 1+2): an interesting show set in New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. It deals with the lives of a diverse group of characters, most of them in some way connected with music, as they try to get their lives back together. The music is a big focus of the show, featuring many real-life jazz and blues musicians, and is a treat for fans of these genres. I found the storylines in the show to be somewhat patchy: there is some great acting, but there is also fair bit of cliche.
Gomorrah (2008): a grim, bleak film from Italy dealing with the mafia-like Camorra crime syndicate from the poor south of the country. It's depressing viewing and raises some real concerns about the consequences of the systemic corruption (e.g. illegal dumping of toxic waste, resulting in heightened levels of cancer in the local populations).
Public Enemies (2009): I sort half-watched this depression-era crime flick starring Johnny Depp, Christian Bale and Marion Cotillard. It looked like it contributed very little to a genre that has already been thoroughly explored (most notably by The Untouchables).
The Damned United (2009): very enjoyable biopic on mercurial football manager Brian Clough's unsuccessful stint at the helm of Leeds United.
Dogtown and Z-Boys (2001): great little doco-film on the surfing and skating scene in California in the 1970s. It's a fascinating insight that the whole "vertical" revolution in skating came about, at least partly, as a result of a long drought in California that caused swimming pools everywhere to dry up and thus become the perfect venues for skating innovation.
Sweet Sixteen (2002): another in the "grim and bleak" category, this Ken Loach film is a sad coming-of-age story set in the working class slums of Glasgow. Worth a look.
