TV Moments of 2011: Angry Boys

In truth, Angry Boys probably could've been 6 episodes instead of 12, seeing as not much happened in the middle and if we're being really honest the Jen Okazaki and Blake Oldfield characters weren't ever that great to begin with - but when Angry Boys concentrated on the stories of the Sims family and one hit wonder S.mouse it was as funny as anything from Chris Lilley's previous hit Summer Heights High.

The decision to touch on Alzheimer's was a brave one and rewarded with some touching moments that you rarely see in sitcoms, giving dignity to Gran yet still finding humour in a tragic situation was reminiscent of Blackadder goes Forth at times.

TV Moments of 2011: Appropriate Adult

Dominic West's performance as Fred West may have got the headlines, but McNulty's turn as one half of the infamous serial killers veered a little too close to comedic at times. Monica Dolan's portrayal of Rose West is the one that should win awards as it was properly chilling at times, but it was sadly one that was slightly on the sidelines thanks to a story that mainly focused on the relationship between Fred and his AA Janet. Still, Appropriate Adult was the best thing on ITV for ages and any doubts before about whether this was just a sensationalist cash-in were quickly dispelled.

TV Moments of 2011: Black Mirror

The Twilight Zone was mentioned a lot in the hype for this series from Charlie Brooker, but in the first of the 3 episodes, The National Anthem the show that immediately came mind was The Thick Of It - getting Malcolm Tucker involved might've been the only thing that could've improved this tale of a Prime Minister having to decide whether to fuck a pig on national television to secure the release of a beloved princess.

Fact fans may like to know this idea was originally from an idea published by Brooker 9 years ago in a Screen Burn column. Terry Wogan mustn't have been available.

TV Moments of 2011: Coogan on Newsnight

In the midst of the phone hacking scandal, walking punch bag Paul McMullen was doing the media rounds where various celebrities lined up to vent their anger at having their private lives violated. The highlight of this came on Newsnight where McMullen's latest attempt to justify the actions of the press caused Steve Coogan to gradually boil up with rage, becoming more like his most famous character by the second.

'Hitler was nice to dogs' will go down as the greatest Alan Partridge quote that never was.

TV Moments of 2011: Graffiti Wars

Thanks to Exit Through The Gift Shop, you weren't actually sure of how much of this to believe at first, but this tale of the battle between Banksy and underground graffiti artist King Robbo was gripping stuff and whilst also managing to raise issues about the different perceptions between street art and graffiti.

The war between the two has now apparently been called off, with King Robbo lying in a coma as a result of an unfortunate accident - but shown back to back with Banksy's poor Antics Roadshow it was clear who won the TV battle that night.

TV Moments of 2011: Great British Railway Journeys

Having a former Tory MP hosting a show about Britishness really should be a recipe for disaster, but Great British Railway Journeys manages to perfectly judge the tone of being educational yet easing as Michael Portillo travels across the country by train, loosely based on Bradshaw's 1840s railway guide.

TV Moments of 2011: Ortis Deley Presenting Masterclass

Ortis Deley presenting masterclass by yidioh

Poor Ortis Deley has obviously been spending too much time with computerised aids since getting a job on The Gadget Show. Hired by Channel 4 to be the face of their coverage of the 2011 World Athletics Championships, Deley went to pieces without the presence of an Autocue, leading to T4 Presenter Rick Edwards having to takeover presenting duties and save the day.

Edwards would go on later in the year to make a Curb Your Enthusiasm style TV pilot about a bumbling television presenter. I do not know if these two events are linked.

TV Moments of 2011: The Shadow Line

On the surface, The Shadow Line looked like being yet another TV series about cops and robbers - that couldn't be further from the case. Despite The Wire being mentioned lazily in the hype, thanks to the central plot loosely having something to do with drug dealing - what we got was closer to State of Play as the conspiracy at the heart of the show widened.

In particular, Episode 2 is one to watch as both sides of the law close in on Wratten's driver, leading to some of the most tense television you'll see for a while - alongside the best use of train stations and the London underground since The Bourne Ultimatum.

TV Moments of 2011: Shooting Stars

Despite being cancelled by the BBC, Shooting Stars was arguably better than ever in its final series. Moving Angelos Epithemiou over to the scores in place of a phoning it in Matt Lucas was an inspired move, his weekly rave-up was always proving a highlight.

TV Moments of 2011: Stewart Lee on Stand Up

Stewart Lee's Comedy Vehicle returned for a second series this year and managed to top high standards set in the previous run. Promoting the interviews with Armando Iannucci from the Red Button to the main show proved an inspired choice, not only did it give more people the chance to see the nearest thing to Frost/Nixon for the modern comedy generation, but they also worked much better alongside Lee's acerbic stand up than skit interludes present in the first series.

The series stand out moment was when Lee took aim at several of his comedy peers, most notably Al Murray and Michael McIntyre - but always with his self-deprecating style leaving you to wonder whether or not the walkouts were staged.

Top Tracks of 2011 Playlist

Kicking off my 2011 end of year Listorama - Here's a playlist of some of the best tracks from 2011. You can check them out by either watching the YouTube playlist above, clicking to go direct to the Spotify playlist, or going via Sharemyplaylists to check out the list there.

...And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead Pure Radio Cosplay
Arctic Monkeys Don't Sit Down 'Cause I've Moved Your Chair
Ben Ottewell All Brand New
Bon Iver Holocene
British Sea Power Who’s In Control
Calvin Harris Feel So Close
Cass McCombs The Same Thing
Chase & Status Ft Liam Bailey Blind Faith
Chromeo Ft Elly Jackson Hot Mess
The Civil Wars Barton Hollow
Coldplay Paradise
Cold War Kids Louder Than Ever
College, Electric Youth A Real Hero
Com Truise VHS Sex
Connan Mockasin It's Choade My Dear
Cut Copy Need You Now
Death Cab for Cutie Underneath The Sycamore
Desire Under Your Spell
Does It Offend You, Yeah? Wrestler
DZ Deathrays Gebbie Street
Elbow Lippy Kids
Emeli Sandé Heaven
Florence + The Machine What The Water Gave Me
Foo Fighters White Limo
Foster The People Pumped Up Kicks
Fucked Up Queen Of Hearts
Gallows True Colours
Glassjaw All Good Junkies Go To Heaven
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx NY Is Killing Me
The Go! Team Buy Nothing Day
Gruff Rhys Honey all Over
The Horrors Still Life
Jamie Woon Lady Luck
Jay Z + Kanye West Why I Love You
Jonny Candyfloss
The Joy Formidable Austere
Justice Civilization
Karen O, Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross Immigrant Song
Kasabian feat. LL Cool J Days Are Forgotten - Ztrip Remix
Katy Perry Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)
Kavinsky Nightcall
Korn Narcissistic Cannibal
Kurt Vile Jesus Fever
Lady Gaga Born This Way
Lana Del Rey Video Games
Let's Wrestle In Dreams Part II
M83 Midnight City
Mark Ronson & The Business Intl Record Collection 2012
Mastodon Curl Of The Burl
Matt Berry Take My Hand
Metronomy The Bay
Miles Kane Inhaler
Mogwai Drunk and Crazy
Mogwai White Noise
The National Think You Can Wait
Noah And The Whale Tonight's The Kind Of Night
Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds AKA... What A Life!
The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart Heaven's Gonna Happen Now
PJ Harvey Let England Shake
Pulled Apart By Horses V.E.N.O.M.
R.E.M. Discoverer
Radiohead Lotus Flower
Real Estate It's Real
Rihanna, Calvin Harris We Found Love
Rival Schools 69 Guns
Smith Westerns Weekend
S.mouse Slap My Elbow
Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks Senator
The Streets Lock The Locks
The Strokes Machu Picchu
Trophy Wife Microlite
Tyler, The Creator Yonkers
The Vaccines Norgaard
White Lies Bigger Than Us
The Wombats Jump Into The Fog
Yuck Get Away

TV Club #9 Blur - Showtime

When it was announced recently that Blur were to get the Outstanding Contribution award at the 2012 Brit Awards, this edition of TV Club was a simple choice.

This live performance, taken from the Showtime video, captures the band just before their breakthrough moment at the 95 Brits, where they won 4 awards on the night - kicking off the Britpop era and one of the seminal periods in British music history.

Review: Hanna

Hanna is an action/thriller about an isolated young girl raised to be an assassin that spends far too long without much action or anything particularly thrilling.

This film would actually benefit from using the Taken approach and just focus on filling 90 minutes of travelling across Europe & North Africa stabbing, shooting, kicking and killing people in a quest for revenge. Instead what we get after a promising start is a film that gets ideas above its station and throws in a load of clumsy metaphors, morphing into coming of age road movie that completely kills any momentum built up by the well-choreographed and shot action sequences.

Saoirse Ronan plays the title role really well, but the sadly the infuriating inconsistency begin to add up - add on ending that you can see coming a mile off means that despite when Hanna is good its really good, the film ends up a bit of a disappointment.

Review: Limitless

For a film about using the full potential of your brain, Limitless ends up working best when you switch your brain off.

Taking it's cue from Fight Club, director Neil Burger makes use of a wide range of digital effects straight out of Fincher's playbook - but an underdeveloped supporting cast and an unsatisfactory ending means Limitless falls shirt of such a high watermark.

Bradley Cooper excels in the lead role, but those looking for their De Niro fix will be left disappointed that he plays such a minor role. Abbie Cornish gets a bit more screen time, but that seemingly consists of little more than breaking up with Cooper/then changing her mind for the duration of the film. Limitless's premise is a good one and does manage to hold your interest throughout , but its pushed to breaking point by an over-reliance on the NZT-40 pill's powers to explain the increasingly silly storyline.

By the time the film does reach its close, several minor plots and characters have been forgotten, but the decision to keep things short and snappy is the right one - but the terrible epilogue makes a mockery of the previous 90 minutes with the ease he dodges trouble, leaving you wondering why he didn't just that at the start to save us all load of bother.

Review: The Ides Of March

The title may reference a date in March, but the everyone involved clearly has a certain date in February on their mind, delivering their best acting performance to woo voters. Gosling and Clooney may be on the poster, but the clash of the titans is the battle between Philip Seymour Hoffman and Paul Giamatti to see who can deliver the best performance of a grizzled campaign manager.

The obvious comparison is with Sorkin's The West Wing and thanks to a much a slower pace alongside a much gloomier visual style & theme, The Ides Of March doesn't always feel like it lives up to its esteemed predecessor - a feeling not helped by a conclusion that leaves you wondering if that much actually happened during the film.

The problem isn't that The Ides Of March is bad, its just that it doesn't live up to its potential and the all-star cast it boasts.

Is The Dark Knight Rises Viral The Prologue Plot?

The viral marketing campaign for the Dark Knight - tracking Harvey Dent's political campaign and the chaos caused by the Joker helped raise interest in Nolan's sequel to near-rabid levels. With The Dark Knight Rises less than 12 months away the launch of a similar campaign over recent days has sent the Internet into meltdown. What we've got so far is 3 leaked CIA documents and I have a theory about what they mean.

Viral #1

Wired.com

Viral #2

Empire Online

Viral #3

@thefirerises

My theory is these documents have been leaked to raise interest before the Dark Knight Rises Prologue is screened before IMAX showings of Mission Impossible 4 in a couple of weeks. Total Film reported previously a rumoured plot for the prologue

"Bane and his mercenaries hijack a military plane transporting a dictator of a country which is in unrest (think Saddam Hussein type figure). 

'He successfully kills the leader, but makes some mistakes along the way and is unable to safely land the plane. 

'Because of the resulting injuries from the accident, he has to undergo complicated surgeries and that is how he winds up with that scar down his neck and the need for the mask to numb the pain.'

Is 'Operation Early Bird' the mission in question?

Is Bane the Operative FO439 in charge?

Is Alon Abutbul set for a William Fitchner style role in the prologue as Dr Pavel?

Is Dr Pavel the target (as opposed to a dictator)? The documents seem to suggest he is based in a country full of milita

Will the prologue end with the botched Hijack of Dr Pavel that results in Tom Hardy turning into the Bane we've seen so far?

Only a couple of weeks to see if I'm right a Mission Impossible 4 opens December 16th in USA and Boxing Day here

TV Club #8 Beastie Boys - Fight For Your Right (Revisited)

The latest inductees into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame were announced this week, featuring the likes of Guns N' Roses, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Laura Nyro, The Small Faces/Faces, Donovan and New York rap trio Beastie Boys.

Looking back over their 30 year career, the hip-hop group has changed an awful lot since their 86' breakthrough Licensed to Ill, a point which the cameo-tastic Fight For Your Right (Revisited) makes better than anything else could.

Featuring the likes of Seth Rogen, Elijah Wood, Danny McBride, John C. Reilly, Will Ferrell, Jack Black, Susan Sarandon, Stanley Tucci and Will Arnett: this star-studded video picks up immediately after the original Fight For Your Right video and ends up in a dance battle with their future selves.

Review: The Crazies

Unlike the Fright Night remake, this recent take on the George A Romero original starts out quite promisingly but struggles to keep its momentum going for too long. The scenes of military takeover are done well, creating a believable atmosphere of chaos. It's a shame that by the time we get to the Hollywood ending The Crazies ends up being predictable and pretty unbelievable stuff that's been done better elsewhere.

Fans of two sheriffs trying to cope with a load of virus infected people trying to kill them are better of checking out The Walking Dead. Whilst fans of Timothy Olyphant in a cowboy hat are better of checking out Justified.

Review: Fright Night

This remake of the 1985 original starts of a little slow, but once David Tennant drops the whole poor man's Russell Brand shtick this really comes to (after)life and packs in plenty of thrills and jumps to make one of the year's most entertaining (if not particularly scary) horrors.

All the cast play their roles well, McLovin plays McLovin and its no surprise David Tennant steals scenes when taking on a load of monsters - so Colin Farrell breaking from the leading man norm to play a sinister, sleazy vampire deserves credit alongside Anton Yelchin doing that Eisenberg/Cera thing of showing Shia Lebeouf how to do his job properly.

The 3D works well in Fright Night and the tech suits a genre where things jumping out of the screen is part of the appeal. However someone really should have pointed out that Colin Farrell morphing into a vampire monster looks a little bit too much like John Travolta to take seriously.