Rush

A rousing, exciting historical drama/biopic that was superbly directed, well acted, gorgeously shot and brilliantly scored with a great script. Kudos to the whole team! Ron Howard has not made such a good movie in a long time! The POV switches between the two male leads seamlessly and the audience is brought through their stories effortlessly, allowing us to empathise, and even sympathise, with them through their triumphs, trials and tribulations. Of course, this will also not be possible if without the two lead actors. Sorry, but Daniel Brühl is really more a co-lead than supporting actor here, but he might just submit himself for the Best Supporting Actor as individually they both lack sufficient meat to wing a Best Actor. Chris Hemsworth finally gets to show off his acting chopes, and credit to Howard for not obsessing over his handsome mug. Contrarily, he might have over compensate with the frequent shots of ratty Brühl. Anyways, Hemsworth gave an applaudable performance as the playboy risk taker with the childlike insecurity beneath that macho bravado. However he was outshone by Brühl who created a detestable hero that we inevitably root for but then end up torn between him and Hemsworth's character.  Writer Peter Morgan deserves much credit too for interweaving the biopics of 2 characters and not skimming on the characterisations or complexities of either. He has always been a great character writer. Olivide Wilde looked great, one of the best I have seen her; Natalie Dormer was too brief; and Alexandra Mara Lara was a breath of fresh air as a departure from the standard Hollywood "beauty" and she can act! Cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle has frames multiple gorgeous imageries, usually at the start of the important races. He and Howard has given us a gorgeous sport film unlike any others before this, and coupled with a distinctively Hans Zimmer cello-riched, bass-heavy score that never overwhelmed but heightened the emotional mood, I will not be surprised to see this show getting some recognition come Oscar time.

Hairspray the Musical

This was definitely one of the best musical productions to hit our local shores in a long, long time. I will be honest and say that the 2007 movie was my first introduction to this musical, so the image of John Travolta in drag is still very memorable, as was Queen Latifah. In this british production, the vocals were outstanding throughout except for Link's portrayer. Strong, powerful voices with great scatting, energetic dancing, high octane performances and hilarious line-readings. Edna Turnbull is again the most popular draw with the crowd, and she is really the emotional core of the show, despite Tracy being the main lead. The standout songs were the same as the movie, but one thing which the movie had the upper hand over was the larger sets and larger background cast, giving the big dance scenes even more energy and vibrancy. Other than the technical snafu in the beginning where the house lights did not dim, the other setbacks were the rather poor lighting, simplistic sets and really bad wigs. But these were minor complications in an otherwise outstanding, fun, feel-good night out!

Trophy Wife

Pilot: A funny family-situational comedy by ABC with a very likable lead in Malin Akerman. She is equally warm and effusive without seeming too flaky or desperate, such that you do want to root for her. But hopefully, after this pilot, the rest of the series will be more about this new family dynamics rather than her trying to fit in/get accepted. Akerman's has a knack for physical comedy and that will play very well against the hilarious straight-woman Marcia Gay Hayden. Michaela Watkins seemed extraneous now, other than for the fact that they need to explain the adopted china boy, who I fear will be an amalgam of Modern Family's Manny and Lily, and who will be milked for senseless comedy. Invariably, this comedy will draw comparisons with "Modern Family", but hopefully it will be as good as the latter was in its first season and carry it through the future (which the latter did not).

Episode #2 - #5: Binged watched all 4 episodes together, and this is a delightful comedy with some genuinely funny moments, but mostly it's just cruises on by with the charm of Malin Akerman and Marcia Gay Hayden. Bert is annoying, Warren is too daft to be true, but at least Hilary (re-cast with Bailee Madison) is not as irritating. This show is definitely not appointment TV, but it's surely good to blow some time past.

Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

Pilot: Joss Whedon is back!!! But truth be told, I found this pilot rather underwhelming. Perhaps it was because of all that hype, but I was expecting more. Having said that, it was still loads of awesomeness, with crackling good lines, shout outs to most of the movie-Marvels heroes/moments, and most importantly a solid cast. The trick here is to balance the darkness of this black-ops, secret agents theme, with the lightness and brevity, and dark comic, that Whedon is known for. And I think he did a good job thus far. Pilots are always exposition heavy, and that's their role, but the next few episodes will really determine if this ABC series will take off, or will it end up like "Firefly" and "Dollhouse". Clark Gregg and Chloe Bennet are the clear standouts here; I really liked the tech-and-science team of Elizabeth Henstridge and Iain De Caestecker (they are like the Xander and Willow on steroids, or Topher on adrenaline); Ming-Na Wen is still an enigma, but I am intrigued by her backstory; Brett Dalton, let's hope he is more than just a pretty boy, hopefully more like Charles Gunn/Wesley and less like Paul Ballard.

Quotable quotes:

Maria Hill: "...a God"
Agent Ward: "I don't think Thor is technically a God"
Hill: "You haven't been near his arms." ... OMG! LOL!!! Genius!

Coulson: "Welcome to Level 7...sorry, that corner was really dark and I couldn't help myself." *snark*

Coulson: "When you get shanked by the Asgardian Mussolini, you can tell it your way." LOL!

Simmons: “I’m not Hermione, I can’t create instant paralysis with that.”

Skye: “With great power comes… a ton of weird crap that you are not prepared to deal with.”

Episode #2, "0-8-4": This outing is slightly better than first, and the cast are really starting to gel together. Especially since this episode is designed to reflect their differences and the group dynamics within. A typical Whedon-esque episode where they group works together, overcome their differences and beat the bad guys. But as the episode was not written by Joss, there seem to be less quotable quotes this time round. May and Fitz-Simmons are still the standouts here; Skye is interesting but the penultimate scene was a bit surprisingly. Poor Agent Ward, still rather dull. Pretty, but dull. But, OMG!, Fury is in the house! There's definitely some history going on between May and Coulson. I think this series won't do blockbuster, "Avengers"-style numbers, but it is a great fun for the fans/geeks/nerds.

Quotable Quotes:

Coulson: "The last [0-8-4] was a hammer."

Skye: "You took a bullet"
Coulson: "-ish". hah!

Coulson: "[Tahiti] is a magical place." Not so much a quip, but another clue; was Doctor Strange involved?

Coulson: "Do you need anything else before I go back and check on the device fueled by evil?"

Episode #3 to #5: Honestly, this series is leaving me rather underwhelmed. There are moments of sparks, but the quality as quite appreciably dropped since Joss's pilot. But thankfully #5 finally gave us some insight and headway into Skye's character. Although honestly, character development and complexities are sorely lacking in this series. The only really interesting character is May. Even Coulson is getting one-dimensional, but at least his quips are still razor sharp. Sadly, Ward is still rather block like; Fitz and Simmons are entertaining enough but currently they are better served as backdrop comic relief rather than upfront like Topher in "Dollhouse". These characters just need to be better written. Hopefully with the Big Bad introduced in episode #5, the upcoming episodes will get slowly evolve.

Hostages

Pilot: The 2 best thing about this new CBS drama is the premise and Toni Collette. Think of this at a network neutered version of "Homeland", i.e. without the violence, the grit or the subversion. The bad guys who, so far, aren't really that bad, and the good guys (or girl, in both cases) who's a strong, independent bitch. However, count on them to always have annoying children. The premise itself is the hook, but how can this lead to beyond 15 episodes is as good a guess as anybody's. Even "Under The Dome" is going on to Season 2! Collette is amazing to watch, and her eyes are powerful and emotional. She's one of the few actors who can really convey emotions with a look, although not many looks thus far (but, hey!, she was in "United States of Tara"), and it's kind of cute when her Aussie accent slips out. McDermott bores me, as he did in "American Horror Story". He has always been looking/acting the same ever since "The Practice". He and everybody else was just so poorly executed and written. So far, I am not that intrigued into his motive, but rather, what may be interesting is to see how the story develops, as it looks like Stockholm Syndrome or reverse Stockholm (if such a thing exist) may develop between the people in the house. Will stick around a bit and see whether I end up giving up on this like I did "Under The Dome".

Episode #2, "Invisible Leash": And the narrative continues. I can see this as a short-order series (13 eps) but what will season 2 be like? The star of the show is Toni Collette, and her subtle facial/eye expressions are a wonder to behold. Unfortunately, the rest of the cast cannot hold up to her. It would have been better if they split the POV with a few scenes from the investigators' side. The cold opening was great, however, if this was on cable, it would had been better, and perhaps even more realistic. Although, kudos to the creative team for trying to address that point. The dynamics of the captors are way more interesting than the family's. And other than Collette's "Ellen", everybody else is still rather bland. Tate Donovan's affair storyline is sucking the life out of the show just like Ted's in "Nashville".

Episode #3, "Power of Persuasion": This show is getting slightly contrived and the never ending cycle of mysteries and conspiracies which is supposed to entrap us is already turning into a bore. Toni Collette and the whole concept of whether she will kill the President are the only reasons worth watching for in this show. Otherwise, it really is quite a drag.

Episode #4, "2.45PM": Seriously this serialised drama is just going round and round in such a formulaic manner that one would think this was a procedural. Gosh...if I only I could just forward it along to the end. This would make a good binge series. But at least the children here are actually less annoying than most others.

The Blacklist

Pilot: NBC's newest crime drama (?procedural...still hard to tell with this first episode) has gotten me hooked onto it within the opening minute. An enigmatic and intriguing start, which got weighed down by too much exposition over the course of the pilot. James Spader has got the creepy vibe emanating throughout (echoes of James Purefoy's Joe Carroll from "The Following") and director Joe Carnahan's penchant for close ups is definitely not helping. Although Spader should cut down on the over-acting. Megan Boone on the other hand, well, let's hope she turns out like Anna Torv from "Fringe" but don't take too long to thaw. As for that whole family angle, without spoiling too much, at first I thought they were going to go all first season "Alias" on us, but then, they spin it around in the second Act with a second/third season "Alias" scenario, but in the end, I was just hoping, please just don't let it be final season "Alias". One thing this show needs to concentrate on is try not to have the audience suspend their believe too much (see "The Following"). Will continue to watch on, but I guess the season long arc may just be: "Why her?", and I do hope the creators come up with a better reason than the most obvious one, but please no Rimbaldi-like mythology. Good to see Henry Lennix ("The Dollhouse") again, but is leaving "Homeland" going to pay out for Diego Klatenhoff?

Episode 2, "The Freelancer (NO. 145)": A good follow-up to the pilot, but still a big heavy on the exposition. Introduction of Parminder Nagra is interesting (what is the difference between FBI and CIA?), and I like her already, so hoping she gets more useful than Lennix or Klatenhoff. Speaking of Klatenhoff, is he getting blonder? And Megan Boone seems more bloated. Sadly, she is still the weakest acting link of the cast. Those final minutes, she was rather bland. Spader on the other hand, is way over acting, and chewing the scenery. So now that the husband is awake, let's hope that storyline moves on. Oh, one thing this show is guilty of, is over complicating scenes for the sake of drama.

Episode 3, "Wujing (No. 84)": Ah...Singapore boy Chin Han is doing good. But it sure will be great if one day he can get out of being typecast as the evil Chinese/PRC baddie. His Singaporean accented Mandarin is a welcome relief though. Anyways, Megan Boone is really boring and bland. That whole blank expression she has on her face throughout makes her a damn good "spy". Otherwise, this is turning into a rather standard procedural, but at least the mystery of the hubby is still in place. And that frankly is getting more interesting than why Reddington chose Keene. But we got to have some answers for all that soon (Sweeps?) or it might just get boring.

Episode #4, "The Stewmaker (No. 161)": Who comes up with these names?? I think they sometimes forget that Elizabeth is actually still a rookie, and should be treated as one. Diego Klatenhoff is finally getting some dimensions, but the show is moving along very slowly. I might just lose interest like what happened towards "Persons of Interest". It seems to me that they can't decide whether to make the husband a good guy or bad guy. The big problems with full-order network series is that the good episodes, game changers are usually during Sweeps months, and the rest of the time we are stuck with fillers. I don't mind split seasons like "Lost" in the past, at least that minimises downtime.

Episode #5, "The Courier (No. 85)": At last a worthy cliffhanger to hook me on to next week. Will it be a cop-out? Is the husband going to be a white hat? Or black hat? Won't be surprised if they start the next ep with a time jump, or "XXX hours/days ago".

The World's End

The last chapter in the Three Flavours Cornetto Trilogy is a delightful, fun, subversive romp through the genre of the "Buddy Road Trip" and Alien Invasion/Independence Day, and even a dash of Western and Apocalypse. However, unlike the prior two entries, "Shaun of the Dead" (a modern zombie/horror-comedy classic) and "Hot Fuzz" (hilarious crime thriller/whodunit), the laughs were not consistent throughout its 100-minutes run, and neither were there many genuinely laugh-out-loud, choke on your snot kind of moments this time round. It could be that expectations were too high for this last hurrah, but nonetheless, this was still a great comedy! Miles ahead of the usual Hollywood tropes and pure money-grabbing schticks (looking at you: "Hangover"!). The cast has a great chemistry, even the usual dead fish-esque Rosamund Pike (still cannot imagine her in "Gone Girl", she and Ben Affleck?!!..what was David Fincher thinking?). Martin Freeman, Paddy Considine and Eddy Marsan were great additions to the dynamic duo of Simon Pegg and Nick Frost. Each role had a distinctive character and the actors were so brilliant in drawing the comedy out of them. There were some great one-liners and scenes, but as fore-mentioned, it was less often. Some of the running gags did get quite stale and, sadly repetitive, after a bit (but, the jumping over the fence bit? Never old...not even after three movies!). Edgar Wright's directing seemed to be verging on the Marvel-esque direction that his "Ant Man" will be bringing him towards, and he definitely needs to brush up on his close-up action choreography and quick cuts. Great music throughout too, a mash of 80/90s alt/indie rock, that really strike a chord with the audience who are the same age as the protagonists. When the main antagonist was revealed, it was a total "Oh gosh! Not again?" moment, but writers Pegg and Wright hilariously subverted our expectations, and with Bill Nighy's sardonic voice work, the climax was actually riveting. Until the final two scenes, which could be a different movie all by themselves.