Transporter the series Season 2 - a long-awaited feast for the holidays!

I loved this show and was stunned it stopped but now it's back and I'm catching up on it on holidays!

 

There are apparent changes. First of all Season 1 was every episode like the last and here you feel a paced calculation and other things added typical for a TV show. First of all, he's got a new "secretary" who doesn't sit at the office but travels with him a lot.

I must admit I didn't realize at first it was a name - translates as "violent peaceful" LOL. After I did, my first thought was of Michele Placido, very popular in our country for La Piovra series, and sure enough, she's his daughter. He probably has a great sense of humour to name a girl like this LOL.

Then I was delighted to see Dieter involved more in episode 1 - he would make a great comic sidekick

but alas it was only to kill him off. To what end and who's repairing the car now I cannot fathom!

Furthermore a personal world for the Transporter is established. We get some insights into his past, friends and feelings.

 

And a lot of 'princple' jobs - either free or too dangerous or for someone... a savior complex, all in all.

This somewhat attenuates the show's brightness but the main is remaining the same. I have to say I love this Frank a lot more than Statham's because he was too grave whereas Vance has this charming and menacing smile assuring his confidence, which makes him akin to James Bond and it's a good thing for me - he's elegant and fun! They do hang a lantern on it in episode 3.

I also enjoy very much this light in Vance's eyes. There is a small percentage of people who have this quality and it's really heart warming and spirit lifting :)

The sidekick girl is fine but she's somehow attenuating Frank. Let's face it, he's not a lone wolf any more. Not sure if it's too good for the picture although surely more typical for a TV show alas.

Obsessed (2009) - it's not a rare thing in real life!

Just watched this movie and surprisingly it wasn't that bad.  Somewhat reminiscent of Splinter and similar stuff only about different deviations.

The main character has a high-paying job, new giant house and an exemplary family with loving wife and an unnaturally quiet little kid (LOL).

All of that is nearly taken away when he becomes subject of sick passion of a temporary replacement co-worker. The gal goes to really great lengths to get him and the personages are surprisingly stupid to not ask for anyone's assistance at first.

Performances are good. The story more or less holds you in place, I was bored only a tiny bit in the middle (while everyone was being stupid). The protagonist is somewhat SharonStone-ish but the wife is tough as well, so you get an extensive girls fight in the finale. With the happy end of course (not for everyone).

What's interesting is how it portrays the delusion which is not so rare to encounter. I had a similar experience, took the police to get the guy away. Of course he wasn't so inventive and only broke a couple of bushes in front of my house but I was scared as hell when he wouldn't leave. Police offered to let him go as the small fine wasn't a big measure but I went for it anyway as it allowed to step up the measures in case he came again (he never did). So this MC was stupid to not report a stalking or harrassment the first time but I guess it takes a burn to start being cautious.

Curious how the theme keeps popping up for me - Stalker series, then this movie... and I had to deal with that kind of deviation twice in the last year. The second time I was already smarter, saw it earlier and cut it harder. They guy still kept calling me for three weeks in series of 5 calls in a row after 1.5 dates despite the blacklist giving him the "busy" signal every time. And that was a quiet one, the first guy called me like 70 times in an hour non-stop!

What can I tell you? If you see any signs of behaviour similar to that gal in this movie (like not reading your "go away" signs and even direct words), remember one thing which is kind of implied but never pronounced in this movie: NEVER TRY TO REASON WITH THEM! Just cut it off and never speak another word, do not even repeat the "Go away and never come back" coz they'll still misinterpret it, the way you can see in here. These are no jokes.

So here, I might even leave it as educational regarding such kind of mental bug.
[IMDB]

Torchwood (2006-2011) TV series - Ravishing!

Looking what to watch after Intelligence I ran into some site with recommendations and after a few links came upon this wonderful show - Torchwood that blew my mind!

First of all, it is sci-fi, action, team-work, everything I like. But it's also much more than that. I found the series completely unusual in many way, perhaps because it is British, but hey! I've seen Bugs and it was OK yet far from this one. So I will so far assume it is Welsh, not English, as they note many times, and it was originally developed by BBC Cymru/Whales (4th season made by BBC World in USA 2 years after the 3rd one, but that's a separate story).

So, what do we have so unusual here?

1. Some secondary characters smoke (not the main but nevertheless noticeable).
2. Main hero (Captain Jack Harkness - in the middle above) - is gay, or, rather bi, but we're shown only the gay part and I must say it was uncomfortable to watch at first but you get used to it, especially with such kind of a charmer.
3. Main characters die. Counting death is not as straightforward in this show, we are left with 3 of 5 by the end of season 2 and 2 of five at the end of season 3. The American story had to be a bit more conventional and I'm not sure if it's a good or bad thing - I'm glad to see them alive but it definitely lost its depth.
4. It's dramatic. I mean, every episode contains some kind of tragedy for one or more of the main characters for 2 traditional season (1 story per episode). So, feelings and coping take an important part in the story, which is unusual but very enriching for an action show. I mean, you see people with feelings, not just tin figurines with a set of personal "rules".
5. It's hearty. You get an awful lot of feelings for what one could've expect from a British-made show. I don't know, may be it's English/Welsh thing but the one man from there I ever met in my life was as frozen as the traditional Londoner image. And they change each other with those feelings. Which is the unrealistic but very refreshing part - I mean who gets to show or see so much real feelings expressed in real life nowadays?
6. It's complicated. You get many questions without right answers - a realistic thing, something to relate to, to think about: what would you have done in their place? And the most excellent is that some answers are far from what is traditionally considered right (that's the main difference from the most of this market made by Americans where there is always a way to do it right).
7. Yet it's light. You aren't left with hard feelings after tragedies despite all the tears in the process or perhaps thanks to them. They get through and accept it is they way it is. At least Gwen does it like any other person normally could: rages, grieves, takes actions she believes in or accepts it and emerges enriched like we all should. 
8. It's inspiring. This is not so unique but very rare lately. A certain uniqueness is in combination with "no right answers" or "no making it right" stories. So it inspires you that life goes on despite that. Mainly thanks to Jack Harkness who just doesn't carry any emotional luggage with him (or he'd sure loose his mind in the centuries he lived). He just gets done what needs to be done and that inspires you to do it. Action taken - no regrets, it's pointless. There might be tears, a few good words or a punch to get to work, if needed, but he gets them and us through it. He's their sun and he acts like one professionally, his spirit never fails or gives up.
9. It's crazy. Not a unique quality either but they bring it on the large scale almost approaching later Farscape, whose fans should appreciate this brilliant reference:
   
   No, I really enjoy seeing people doing crazy stuff, unbound by conventional opinion! I mean when thanks to this they get some useful things done, not just to defy common sense :)
10. It tells about different types of love! That is really something I haven't seen a lot anywhere on screen but here it's like a regular thing to describe. You have silent love, gay love, pleasure sex, love-hate, spiritual love, familial love and none of it really interferes with each other! Kinda really broadens your views on the matter. Well, it's a particular cherry on top for me :)

All in all it moves you, not just entertains!

Intelligence (2014) vs Extant (2014) CBS TV Series

A weird way I came about the Intelligence series: read some reviews on Extant, which were all as bad as my opinion (pretty dull for the big names in it), and someone reproached CBS for replacing with it a series they didn't name but defined in a way that caught my attention. After some research I concluded they were talking about Intelligence with Josh Holloway.

I must tell you at once I am not of the latter's fans, I didn't even watch LOST, although they guy is close to my type, but not quite it, yet pleasing they eye indeed. However the kind of action series about a super-agent is definitely my type of show, unless the main hero is really ugly which is not the case, as we have established ;).

And the show did not disappoint from the genre point of view, even disregarding some really stupid medical and technical mistakes. (Mind you, I was comparing it to Extant where they persisted to find the fetus under the belly-button). 

At least it has the main things I always appreciated in this type of shows besides the obvious mystery chase, dynamic plot and cool fights: the team spirit, dedication and commitment + likeable characters, humour and OK special effects (once again unlike Extant - I am not very picky in this regard and generally their effects were cool but the metal net with LED lights as MRI scanner device is the kind of ridiculous which jerks you out of the fictional world into wondering about makers' imagination). 

I mean this is a good classic show (unlike Extant with its unclear ambitions once again). Honestly, I didn't even think they make this kind of shows any more. The world has obviously changed into darker moods and it reflects upon entertainment - it becomes less considerate and more cynical. Even my beloved Continuum, much improved in season 3, lost the charm of utter trust between heroes. 

But at least it has action whereas Extant leaves me like WHF is a sci-fi drama? Not a proper drama as the circumstances are far from anyone's real life, nor a proper science fiction focusing on hypothetical futuristic problems usually connected with the present reality as well. Plus while having an adventure premise, it is action-ish only if you count one-two serious events per episode which is ridiculous comparing to the very Intelligence, where each episode hosts a story probably equivalent to the entire season of this overblown shame on the world-famous sci-fi maître.

This said, I won't be sorry to see Extant go, moreover, I would be glad if I only could hope a better series will come in its stead. But the fact that Intelligence didn't get picked up for the next season leaves me pessimistic. Is there really no audience for this good old nice kind of shows with heroes, loyalty, real action and stuff? Or is it just makers' laziness and budget economy, including on writers, trying to feed us what's easier to make with little efforts for big money on famous names and nothing more?

Now onto the brighter things - the Intelligence series itself. I'm going to do some analysis and probably spoilers below.