TV Review: Lexx.The Lexx: I am the Lexx. I am the most powerful weapon of destruction in the two universes. I was grown on the Cluster, which is ruled by His Shadow. The food was good there. My captain is Stanley Tweedle. I blow up planets for him.
I found series one online, liked it, then ventured to get the rest from Netflix. It has some fun stuff, like Lexx (the ship), Kai (the dead man), and at the beginning 790 (the robot head). Unfortunately, it seems the writers only know a few gags, like Zev’s refusal to sleep with horn-dog Stanley, and Stan’s eagerness to get laid leading them all into trouble. However, after season after season of the same old hat, I got bored. So, I’m finishing up with the last disk of the last season, just to see how it all ends and who ends up dead, but I’ve skipped about half of the last season. I don’t think I’ll miss much.
Movie Review: Pan’s Labyrinth.Carmen: The captain has been so good to us... Please, Ofelia, call him father. It's just a word, Ofelia, just a word.
Do not take the kids to see this flick. Yes, there’s a child in the movie, but there’s a reason it’s rated R. Okay, we start out as one might expect, a fairy-tale voice over, introduce the girl and her mom, show some carved stones…Then we get to the step-father’s camp in Fascist Spain, 1944 and the fairy tale veneer slips away as the captain’s brutal side comes out and Ofelia meets a creepy faun who tells her she is a magic princess. Add some escalation, some bloodshed, and some creatures and the result is a lush and creepy story.
TV Review: Rome. Lucius Vorenus: It makes no sense. We should have been stopped by now. Why is Rome not defended?
Titus Pullo: Our boys scared 'em off, eh?
Lucius Vorenus: Soldiers of the Republic do not run, so it must be a stratagem, a trick.
Titus Pullo: It's a good trick.
Lucius Vorenus: Unless the gods have abandoned Rome... If Mars were watching, he would not allow such a disgrace.
Titus Pullo: Maybe he was havin' a crap and missed it.
-Rome Season One, Episode Three
I’d heard about this one a bit, but didn’t hear much beyond “it’s good” so last week I decided to find out for myself. I’ve gotten through the first two disks of Season one (five episodes) and I can see why people like it. Okay, here’s the skinny: You have a few circles of characters – those around Ceasar and those around Pompey (Ceasar’s friend turned rival) and they’re in various levels of society, from slave, to soldier, to aristocrat. The focus is largely on Titus Pullo and Lucius Vorenus, two soldiers, but you also get into the home and mind of Atia of the Julii, the mother of Octavian and a conniver if ever there was one. It’s a fairly complicated set-up, and don’t worry if you don’t get everyone straight in the first episode, it’ll get clearer as you watch more.
One of the most interesting parts of the series is the contrast between Titus and Lucius. In their own ways, they’re both pretty brutal men, but they both have their redeeming moments, too. So, they end up see-sawing a bit between who’s doing the right thing – kind of neat. Just when you get to a point where you can say Lucius is the more noble of the two, he goes and does something that makes Titus look good in comparison.
Also fun – all the historical bits interlaced throughout. I love their use of graffiti, and the political intrigue is cool. Another bonus: James Purefoy (aka the Black Prince in A Knight’s Tale) as Mark Antony.
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