Tuesday, 3 July 2012

TV REVIEW - Primeval Series 5 Episode 3 (Spoiler-free)


Created by: Adrian Hodges and Tim Haines
Directed by: Robert Quinn
Written by: Paul Mousley & Gabbie Asher
Starring: Ciaran McMenamin, Andrew-Lee Potts, Hannah Spearritt, Ben Mansfield, Ruth Kearney, Ruth Bradley, Stephen Hogan
Genre: Sci-Fi
Air Date: 7th June 2011 (Watch), 30th June 2012 (ITV)

You may remember last week I was a bit down on Primeval. I eat my words.

In this week's episode, a raptor escaped through an anomaly into a pop-art gallery. The team forced it back through the anomaly, then realised they'd got the wrong anomaly and had sent the raptor back to Victorian England, where it turned out to be responsible for a series of murders that had thought to have been committed by Spring-heeled Jack. Matt followed the raptor through the anomaly in order to track it down, to find Emily on the other side.

This episode was alot better than the first two of the series. It was tense and kept you glued all the way through. The pacing was fast and, for once, the plot wasn't obvious and predictable, especially towards the end.

The other advantage the episode had over the last two was Emily. Ruth Bradley is one of the best actresses the franchise has seen, and the character of Emily is alot more interesting than all the others put together. It's great that she now seems to have permanently returned to the series.

Primeval also hugely benefitted from a change of scenery. Modern-day was getting very samey, using Victorian England added alot more fun and romance to the story. Typical Dickensian clichés such as the puppeteer at the beginning and the story of Jack the Ripper were too charming not to be loved.

Of course, it wasn't flawless. As with every episode of Primeval, parts were badly written, and came across as corny. But this shouldn't take away from the overall piece.

Definately better.

7/10


What did you think of this week's Primeval? Let us know in the comments.
Tom :)

TV NEWS - Merlin and Inbetweeners news

Merlin
Merlin will air on the 29th of September when there will be 13 new episodes!

The Inbetweeners
The Inbetweeners are going to america for an American version of the film. Shh i know it isn't really tv news.
And in the TV series remake a new picture has been released. And yes it looks terrible and very American. The fact that the guy on the left is holding a yellow car door, they are just using the same scripts as the originals. As the Americans don't like this kind of comedy, which is why they canceled Skins because it pictures teenagers doing "unrealistic things" and picturing them in a bad way.

And thats it
Kieron :P


TV GALLERY - The Changeable Moriarty

A new trend seems to have sprung up across a few social networking sites inspired by the TV show Sherlock. The same two pictures of Andrew Scott as Moriarty are shown with different captions each time. We thought they were very funny, and wanted to share them with you...






Tom :)

Monday, 2 July 2012

MUSIC NEWS - Lots of Green Day and the Official Olympic Song

Here's a round up the last weeks news which is mostly dominated by the upcoming Green Day trilogy...

Green Day: ¡Tré! Album Trailer, ¡Uno! Track List and Upcoming Single
Green Day have released a trailer for their upcoming album ¡Tré!, which is the final album in their upcoming trilogy. The trailer, as with all the others, shows the cover of the album at the end. ¡Tré! will be released on January 15th next year.

Green Day have also announced the track listing for the first album in the trilogy, ¡Uno!
1. Nuclear Family
2. Stay The Night
3. Carpe Diem
4. Let Yourself Go
5. Kill The DJ
6. Fell For You
7. Loss Of Control
8. Troublemaker
9. Angel Blue
10. Sweet 16
11. Rusty James
12. Oh Love
¡Uno! will be released on September 25th. You can watch the trailer here.

And finally, Green Day have announced that the first single from ¡Uno! will be Oh Love. Oh Love will be released on July 16th.

Muse Release Official Olympic Song
The London 2012 Olympic Committee have chosen Muse's song Survival as the official olympic song. Survival is the first single from the upcoming album The 2nd Law, which will be released on the 17th September. Survival is now available to download from iTunes.
In other Muse news, Bellamy has described The 2nd Law on his twitter account as a "christian gangsta rap jazz odyssey, with some ambient rebellious dubstep and face melting metal flamenco cowboy psychedelia". Hhmm...interesting...

So that's all the news I've found over the week, feel like I must have missed alot. If there's anything you think of, let us know in the comments, and we'll update this post.
Tom :)

Friday, 29 June 2012

THE CRUNCH - 5 Things We Want In Sherlock

A couple of weeks back, we wrote an article with a list of 7 things we wanted to see next year for Doctor Who's 50th Anniversary. You can view that article here. Since that article was so popular, I decided to write another one. Here are 5 things I'd want to see in the next series of Sherlock...

Oh, and a quick warning, if you plan on reading the original Sir Arthur Conan Doyle books (which I recommend), this article does contain spoilers.

Moran is arrested
1. The Gun
Mark Gatiss has confirmed that the first episode of the new series will be based on Conan Doyle's The Adventure of the Empty House. In the short story, we learn that Moriarty's men had been building a very special weapon, a gun that can fire nearly silently. This seemed revolutionary for the time, although now seems a bit dull now that we have developed silencers. But the idea of a secret weapon is very exciting, especially if it's being developed outside of the authorities by Moriarty's league. So in a modern setting what could this weapon be? Nuclear missiles? Lazers? If you have any ideas, let us know in the comments.

Sherlock diguised as a security guard
2. Disguises
Throughout all the Sherlock Holmes books, the great detective uses various disguises to spy on criminals and blend in with eye-witnesses. This hasn't really been exploited in the TV series yet, except for a brief, almost unnecessary, moment in the series 1 finale The Great Game, in which Sherlock breaks into an art gallery disguised as a security guard. I think there is alot of fun to be had here, especially considering that even Watson didn't recognize Holmes in the books when he was in disguise.

Tom Hardy in Inception
3. Charles Milverton
In The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton, Conan Doyle introduces us to a character that Holmes describes as "The worst man in London". Quite high praise, considering Moriarty. Milverton is a suave and sophistcated con-man and black mailer, and I think there's alot more potential for a recurring enemy than there is with Colonel Sebastian Moran, who in the books is Moriarty's right hand man. Moran on screen would be too similar to Andrew Scott's Moriarty, who we've only just lost. Milverton on the other hand, is very different in character. So who could play this slimey aristocrat? For me, two actors spring to mind. One is Inception's Tom Hardy. The other is Being Human's Damien Maloney. Hardy is unlikely to play the role after his current successes in big films such as Prometheus and the upcoming The Dark Knight Rises, so Maloney seems a safer bet.

4. Stanley Hopkins
Marshall Lancaster in Life On Mars
In the books, Inspector Hopkins is a young and excitable Scotland Yard detective who sees Holmes as a mentor and tries to employ his methods in his own investigations. He never does succeed however, and calls in the consulting detective on a number of occasions. He's a very funny character, and would be great to see in the TV series. But where could Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss, two writers very much grounded in Doctor Who, find a young and excitable actor? *Cough* Matt Smith *cough*. Understandably, they may want to avoid the crossover, so another possibility could be Life On Mars's Marshall Lancaster.

5. The Sign of Four
Finally, I've picked out my favourite Sherlock Holmes story. The Sign Of Four is the second Sherlock Holmes novel and is part murder mystery, part treasure hunt, part adventure epic. What could be more suited to the current TV show, where we have seen Sherlock and John track down Chinese smugglers? Best of all, the whole story culminates in a boat chase down the Thames. Imagine modernising that!

So there's my list. What would you like to see in the next series of Sherlock? Let us know in the comments.
That's also all for this week on Crash Hub. Hope to see you again on Monday.
Tom :)

Thursday, 28 June 2012

FILM REVIEW - Danny Boyle's Frankenstein (Spoiler-Free)

Directed by: Danny Boyle
Written by: Nick Dear (based on the novel by Mary Shelley)
Starring: Benedict Cumberbatch, Jonny Lee Miller
Release Year: 2011 (Encore Screening 2012)
Genre: Sci-Fi/Horror/Stage Play
Certificate: 15

In 2009, the National Theatre in London launched a project to broadcast their best plays live to screens across the world. It was called National Theatre Live, imaginatively. So this "film review" isn't really of a film, but of a stage play, which is unlikely to be released on DVD. But it might be, and I certainly wouldn't be surprised if it returns to cinemas for a third time. If it does, SEE IT!

Frankenstein tells the story of the Dr. Victor Frankenstein, a gifted scientist who discovers how to create artificial life. But his first experiment goes wrong, bringing the deformed creature into existence. The creature develops human emotions such as hate and a thirst for vengeance, and decides to pursue his maker to demand him to build him a mate.

This is a completely new and original interpretation of Shelley's gothic classic. Instead of siding with Dr. Frankenstein and showing the creature as a full-blown monster, this version shows the story through the creature's eyes. We see it's vulnerability and it's sorrow, and experience it's longing and self-sympathy. This adds an entirely new twist to the story and gives it a much deeper meaning that Shelley intended, but has been lost in most film adaptations.

When the play was performed, Benedict Cumberbatch and Jonny Lee Miller alternated roles as Victor Frankenstein and the creature each night. On the showing I watched Cumberbatch played the creature and Lee Miller played Frankenstein.

At first, I wasn't too overwhelmed by the production. The play opens with 20 minutes of the virtually-naked creature learning to walk. While this is a clever way to show the creatures innocence and child-like nature, and is certainly a more down-to-earth opening than that of the book, the scene does drag horrendously. 10 minutes maximum would have been enough.

After this though, the play really picks up pace and becomes very enjoyable. It sways from moments of hilarity (the creature's first words are "P**s off! B****r off!"),  to moments of extreme tension or heart-wrenching sadness. Both Cumberbatch and Lee Miller were fantastic, and I would love to have the opportunity to see the play again with them in opposite roles.

Do not be put off seeing this because it is apparently a horror. While the play is very tense and provides a few little shocks, it never reaches the stage of terrifying. The 15 certificate has been earnt by a mixture of mild language and nudity.

In modern adaptations, we expect parts to be different from the book. In this version, just the right amount was changed to make the story new and interesting for people who have read the novel while also keeping very true and traditional. It was a perfect balance.

Overall, this is a superb production of Frankenstein which is only let down by it's lengthy opening scene. Please show it cinemas again!

9/10

Have you seen Frankenstein? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
Tom :)

FILM NEWS - Loads of short stuff (I mean loads)

The Happytime Murders
A new R-Rated Muppet Movie. Directed by tod burger. He says: "I want to try to make the heat of puppet movies. I want to be the dark night or heat but in a world where puppets and humans coexist." and "It is full-on R. There is swearing, there's sex, violence, murder" He does say also how he is making all new characters. As we can't have the normal ones doing drugs and killing hookers ect. obviously! This could be really good or really bad.
Alex Cross
Based on a book by James Patterson. It is due in October, directed by Rob Cohen(The Fast And The Furious), Staring Tyler Perry and Matthew Fox. The First trailer was released. See it here.


Dredd
First Look at the new trailer. It will be in cinemas at Christmas.
View the trailer to the Right! >>>


Sesame Street Movie
Yerp that's happening written by Joey Mazzrino ( the writer of the TV show), that's about all the news there is on that!


Highlander reboot
Ryan Reynold has been cast as the lead.

Avatar 4?
James Cameron is making 3 Avatar sequels at the same time. As Avatar 2 is not due until 2015 then not finish the franchise until 2020. I know Tom doesn't like Avatar but I really like it, personally I hope they go to the planet that Pandora orbits, or visit one of the other moons!

Transformers 4
Michel bay will be doing a final 4th transformers movie, but it will be cheaper, well the mandate cut (whatever that is) is about $30m. He said “We’re taking the story you’re seen – the story we’ve told in three movies already – and we’re taking it in a new direction.”. 

Battel of the Kids Animated Horror Comedy Movie Things (or KAHCMT's, I know catchy right):
  • Hotel Transylvania:
  • An animated moive with a horror tinge. See the new trailer here. This has some really funny parts!
  • Frankenweenie:
  • Tim Burton's new movie has a new trailer. It is an updating of his 1980's short film. It has the director of Alice in Wonderland on board. See the trailer here.
  • ParaNorman:
  • These 2 go up against this. See the Trailer here.
Silver Samurai
Taken 2
First Look at the new movie staring Liam Neeson from Taken and Maggie Grace. It comes out in October. See the trailer here.

The Wolverine 
This film will start filming in a few weeks. All we know is it will follow the comics of 1982 by Chris Claremont and Frank Miller. Part will be have the villain Silver Samurai, according to rumours.

Movie trailer round up thing from source fed! That I haven't covered.
(V/H/S, Twilight: Breaking Dawn Part 2, Monsters University, The Dark Knight Rises)
Full The Dark Knight Rises trailer here!

What are you most exited about?
Kieron :O