Downton Abbey: A decidedly British affair

I must admit this post has a distinct lack of science and horror in comparison to my usual fair. I’m afraid I’ve gone a bit astray as of late. My wife and I have been enjoying a little British drama known as Downton Abbey. My wife is quite a Jane Austen fan so the idea of a show, or program as the Brits call them, about an Earl and his family fretting over inheritance and the latest social soiree was right up her alley. For me it was the dapper dress and the historical accuracy. Like one-million-pounds-an-episode historical accuracy.

Dirty Mary Crazy Larry:

So my brother was in town for Easter. He’s extremely jealous of my Netflix subscription and HDTV, so we made good use of both during his visit. He had a real hankering for a car chase movie and for some reason Netflix isn’t currently streaming Bullitt or the original Italian Job so we looked elsewhere for high-speed thrills. Fortunately we stumbled across a little gem called Dirty Mary Crazy Larry. It’s a cozy little piece of Americana with bouts of bad dialogue and worse acting. Fortunately she’s got it where it counts. A few good cars, almost as many smash ups, and plenty of crazy stunts.

Lilyhammer: Just when I thought I was out…

Netflix and I have had a rough relationship over the last six months. First she develops split personality disorder, then she says I never take her anywhere nice or buy her expensive presents, then finally she becomes nearly impossible to communicate with. But we’re committed to one another. She knows what I like and I know how to push most of her buttons. Now.

This fickle creature is taking a serious step towards legitimacy in the entertainment business. Like HBO did to cable, so Netflix is trying to do to the internet. She is trying to bring premium, exclusive, and more importantly, profitable programming to the internet, and her first endeavor, Lilyhammer, is a spiritual spin-off of HBO’s long-time bread-winner The Sopranos.

Netflix: How to lose friends & infuriate people

In case you haven’t noticed I spend an awful lot of time watching streaming movies and TV shows on Netflix. Most of these I watch on my Xbox, though my wife did just buy a Roku off of woot.com for the bedroom. Between Netflix and our DVR I simply don’t watch commercials anymore and Netflix is a great way to find new-to-me quality television that has slipped through the cracks. My latest favorite is the BBC4 show Black Books. The show stars Simon Pegg‘s friend Bill Bailey and features a number of players from Pegg and Edgar Wright’s SPACED and is simply hilarious. But I’ve been noticing a trend with Netflix in general and with the Xbox interface in particular. Mainly this: it’s turning into a complicated mess.

On Her Majesty’s Secret Service: Lazenby gets the shaft

While browsing my Netflix queue I came across the description for “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service” and was quite surprise to see it classified as one of the best Bond films of all time. Don’t get me wrong, George Lazenby puts Timothy Dalton and Daniel Craig to shame, but he was put in a rather awkward situation when asked to play a decidedly toned down Bond.

The sixth Bond film was the first to lack the dominating performance of Sean Connery, and a significant break from the previous installments in what would become one of the most epic and certainly the longest running series in film history.

Richard Linklater’s Tape

Look, I love explosions and car chases as much as the next guy.  Movies (well, some) are excellent at capturing events that we would never experience and making us feel like we vicariously lived through them.  I will never engage in a high-speed chase while shooting a gun through my blown out windshield, but I will certainly watch it happen.  However, I think movies are at their best not when they let us view a fantasy, but when they make a realistic situation just as compelling.  Tape, a film by Richard Linklater (Dazed and Confused, School of Rock, to name the two most well-known of his movies) takes about ninety minutes of nothing but conversation and makes them not just interesting, but riveting.

E3 2010: Hardware! Zomg!

E3 has come and gone. What was awesome? What sucked? Did anybody care about Nintendo? It is the grandest time of year to be a nerd.