September DVD Round Up

Yep, it's been a "couple of months" since I did a catch up on my DVD watch list, so that means it's time to...do a catch up on my DVD watch list. Looking back it's been a pretty eclectic run on films but a solid one, not least of which because a lot of the films we missed earlier in the year are now starting to come out DVD. So, whats on the list?

Box Set Blues: The Big Bang Theory

Here is a list of 10 episodes of endangered cult show Community I could probably write full length reviews of: 

Advanced Dungeons and Dragons, Modern Warfare, Remedial Chaos Theory, Paradigms of Human Memory, Critical Film Studies, Contemporary American Poultry, Debate 109, Conspiracy Theories and Interior Design, Epidemiology and what the hell, Horror Fiction in Seven Spooky Steps. And I still haven't seen more than half the third series. 

Here is a list of 10 episodes of seemingly unstoppable smash hit comedy series The Big Bang Theory I could write a full length review of: 

...

Right then...

Books: The Hunger Games Trilogy

It feels like the big boom in books at the moment is "Young Adult", which I am now old enough to not quite understand. I mean, I'm sure that many of the books I read as a teenager would now be classed as Young Adult, but I don't recall them getting their own section in W H Smiths, and I certainly don't recall them being as ruthlessly turned into heavily marketed movie franchises as they seem to be these days. See? Old. I've also not really any of this new breed, although not from some outbreak of age-related snobbery but simply that I'm horribly backlogged on reading and am loathed to add more to the list. However, we did go see The Hunger Games earlier in the year, which moved Z to buy the books, and so recently I thought that a series built around lethal Gladiatorial bouts featuring children would be excellent light reading. 

Hmmm. 

TV Review: Once Upon a Time

Its always interesting, isn't it, when the collective of minds that push out films and TV all seem to come to a conclusion all at once on what is going to be "in" this year. 2012 seems to be the year of the Fairy Tale - two movies and two TV shows all riffing on the idea of "modernised" fairy stories, the films wanting to recast the idea as "girl power" heroines and the TV shows wanting to just bring a mixed bag of fairy story motifs and characters into the modern world. Out of all of these, I've only seen one: Once Upon a Time. In fairness, none of these films or shows really interested me, and I only watched OUAT for two reasons - first, it was on at a convenient time, and secondly, it looked so much like a Fables rip-off I just had to see if it was true. 

Thinking: Its Not For You!

Well, its that time again, when Doctor Who returns to our screens, and is instantly subjected to a level of scrutiny far beyond that which a Saturday Evening Family-viewing show merits. Everyone seems to be in on the act, from twitter (split as ever, between gushing fans and bitter refuseniks), the legion of geek blogs, and even the mainstream press can't resist getting a few articles up each about the return of the show, episode reviews and some tacked on commentary using the show as an analogy. It's all a bit weird really, when you think about it - Who doesn't put itself forward as that sort of show and there are a hell of a lot of shows that do and don't seem to get the coverage.

Movie Review: Ted

I don't know if it says more about my interests, or just the overwhelming dominance of the genre in this summer's blockbuster line-up, but Ted is the first film I've seen in cinemas this summer that didn't involve some guy in Spandex jumping off a building. A bit of both, probably, but it certainly nice to get see something different up on the big screen. On what seemed like a quiet weekend at the box-office, it was this or The Expendables 2, - no interest in Total Remake, thanks - and the profanity spewing Teddy Bear won the day.