TV books and film of the week

Well what have I been watching of late.

Since my last post last year the current Mrs K and I have got into a few programmes.  Each week we both watch This Week. For those not in the UK this a political discussion programme hosted by Andrew Neil and featuring Michael Portillo and various other luminaries from the worlds of politics, journalism and entertainment.  The discussions are relaxed and at the same time challenging on the issues of the week.

We also started to watch Once Upon A Time. The premise here is that all your favourite fairytale characters have been dragged into our world and are living in some sort of bubble. The series started out and looked promising but like Flashforward it never managed to sustain our interest to the extent that we recorded it for weeks and eventually gave up watching it.  The series has been recommissioned but I am not sure where they can go with it to be honest. After a while we stopped caring about the characters and decided to move on.

Our new favourite TV series is Person of Interest. The lead is Jim Caviezel who went from playing Christ and then to Number 6 in the remake of The Prisoner. He plays an ex CIA/black ops type who is recruited by an eccentric billionaire ( aren't they all!!!) to help prevent crimes. Featuring the talents of J J Abrams (Lost, Star Trek) and Jonathan Nolan (who helped to write Memento, The Prestige and The Dark Knight) the series is intelligent, action packed and leaves you wondering what is going to happen next. The series has been renewed for a second season. Think of it as a cross between The Equalizer, Enemy of the State and any other series featuring ex CIA agents.

In terms of reading I currently have a couple of books on the go. As you can see from the front page of the blog I am reading Bernard Cornwell's The Last Kingdom, the first part of his Alfred series. I am in fact re-reading it as part of a process to try and decide which books to keep and which to give to charity. One of my rules is never throw a book away.  I am also reading Steven Eriksson's Gardens of the Moon. Apart from the incomprehensible plot it is well written and I will definitely read the next book in the series. Recently I read The Long Earth by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter. Pratchett's non- Discworld stuff is variable in quality but this shows promise. I have also read two books based around the premise of stopping the assassination of JFK. Tim Kring's book Shift was decidedly unsatisfying. Stephen King's 11.22.63 was a much better book. The story is excellent and the ideas underlying are also strong. The weakness comes in the execution of it. The book is overlong. I have also recently read new James Bond stories. Devil May Care by Sebastian Faulks is very much written a la Ian Fleming and is set in the time of the original Bond's and is very good. Jeffrey Deaver's Carte Blanche is a different beast and is overlong. Fleming would have taken half the space to tell the same story.

I have been exploring my DVD collection in recent weeks. In the last few days I have watched Avengers Assemble. It was much hyped and in the hands of Joss Whedon (Buffy, Firefly and Serenity) it delivers. Of the films featuring the characters leading up to this only the Iron Man films have delivered. This is largely down to the fact that Robert Downey Jr is an excellent lead. This is not to say that the other films were bad. They weren't but they could have been better.

Plans are afoot for more films featuring the characters. The film is funny, dramatic and you get the impression that the actors had a ball making it. The best line for me is when Downey Jr challenged by Tom Hiddlestone's Loki claiming that he is a God says yes 'But we have a Hulk'. Hiddlestone is then smashed up later by said Hulk who calls him a 'puny God'.  I have also been watching the deliciously violent Desperado with Antonio Banderas and Salma Hayek.

Happy viewing and reading.