Trailer: ABOUT TIME (2013)

Richard Curtis time-travel rom-com ABOUT TIME fuses TIME-TRAVELER'S WIFE (even casts McAdams) and GROUNDHOG DAY youtu.be/u2PUMA6nFWk

— Dan Owen (@danowen79) May 14, 2013

HBO's FAMILY TREE

Christopher Guest is famous for writing, directing and appearing in many 'mockumentaries'; most famously rock spoof This is Spinal Tap, but also Best in Show, A Mighty Wind, Waiting for Guffman, et al. His work was a sizeable influence on Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant's The Office, so in a roundabout way he's responsible for the faux-documentary style that's dominated small-screen comedy since the turn-of-the-millennium. Surprisingly, HBO's Family Tree marks his first TV project in an estimable career, working with Jim Piddock (who also appears as Mr Pfister), and it mixes many of the things you associate with Guest both personally and creatively.

MSN TV: BBC2's THE FALL

Over at MSN TV today: I've reviewed the premiere of BBC2's five-part crime drama THE FALL, starring The X Files' Gillian Anderson as a London detective sent to Belfast to help catch a serial strangler...

The most notable thing about BBC2's five-part drama The Fall is how it immediately sets itself apart from whodunnits like Broadchurch, Sherlock, Endeavour and The Suspicions of Mr Whicher. We're immediately aware of who the culprit is because he stands in front of a mirror and takes a photograph of himself for posterity. This gives the show a different angle to most other crime dramas that are often propelled by a sense of mystery and audience's desire for the detectives to crack the case and unmask the villain.

Continue reading at MSN TV...

Fox greenlight 24: LIVE ANOTHER DAY

Fox have leaped at the chance to bring their long-running hit 24 back to life, after executive-producer Howard Gordon proposed a "limited event series" of 12 episodes, in the wake of the inability to get the long-awaited movie made. Kiefer Sutherland has agreed to reprise his role as Jack Bauer, in a story that takes place several years after season 8's conclusion. How old is Jack at this point? 60?

Similarly odd, the plan is to keep the show's signature "real time" format, but simply skip occasional hours to tell the usual 24-hour story in half that time. The rationale being that most seasons of 24 contained 12-hours of relevant plot and 12-hours of sub-plots and "filler". I guess this means the story can now take into consideration issues like transportation; so, for example, whenever Jack needs to take a flight somewhere they can skip an "uneventful" hour without having to create in-flight peril for him to deal with, etc.

Trailer: Netflix's ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT

Fans have waited seven years for Arrested Development's return (or a year, if you're a late-comer like me), after it was axed by Fox after three seasons. It's now become the flagship resurrection for online rental service Netflix, who've taken the strange decision to release all 15 episodes simultaneously around the world on 26 May.

MSN TV: ITV's THE SUSPICIONS OF MR WHICHER - 'The Murder in Angel Lane'

Over at MSN TV today: I've reviewed the two-hour ITV crime drama THE SUSPICIONS OF MR WHICHER, a follow-up to their 2011 adaptation of Kate Summerscale's novel, starring Paddy Considine as the eponymous Victorian sleuth...

British drama has a tendency to produce Victorian-era dramas or murder-mysteries, so the temptation to mix the two must be hard to refuse. Just recently the BBC found success with Ripper Street, but ITV's The Suspicions of Mr Whicher actually pre-dates it by a few years. The 2011 TV adaptation of author Kate Summerscale's award-winning book (itself inspired by the real-life Constance Kent murder enquiry of 1860) was enough of a success for ITV to commission a follow-up. Only this time, the story is an original creation, as there are no literary sequels. In The Murder in Angel Lane, we catch up with Jack Whicher (Paddy Considine) after the events of The Murder at Road Hill House. He's now working as a 'private enquiry agent' after leaving the police force in disgrace.

Continue reading at MSN TV...

TV Picks: 13-19 May 2013 (Case Histories, The Dales, Eurovision Song Contest, The Fall, Frankie, Ice Age Giants, etc.)

Below are my weekly picks of the most notable TV shows premiering/returning to UK screens...

State of the Blog: 4 million hits!

I've been forgetting to chime in with these situation updates, although I doubt they're anyone's favourite thing to read. But they do serve a purpose and let regular readers know what's going on with the blog.

Anyway, the big news is DMD has achieved 4,000,000 page hits since I started it back in March 2006. There's been a reduction in visitors over the past year, no doubt because there's generally less content because I've altered my reviewing habits. The days of 4-5 new posts every single day are sadly over, so it will probably take me much longer than 7-years to achieve 8 million hits. But hey, that's still a lot of people and I can't complain. I continue to be amazed we're talking in terms of millions here, as I still remember the days when cracking 100 hits in a day was cause for private celebration.

DOCTOR WHO, 7.12 – 'A Nightmare in Silver'

After his superb Doctor Who debut "The Doctor's Wife" (one of the best episodes of Steven Moffat's era), expectations were unreasonably high for the sophomore effort of renowned author Neil Gaiman (American Gods, Neverwhere). Sadly, "A Nightmare in Silver" was an episode overburdened with nonsense and whimsy; quickly becoming both repetitive and tiring. The only thing it did well was improve the design and logic of the Cybermen as callous villains; even if most of its improvements came from Star Trek's own cybernetic nemesis The Borg.

Twitter'd: TAKEN 2 (2012)

My live-tweets of bad movies continued on Saturday afternoon with action sequel TAKEN 2, starring Liam Neeson, Famke Janssen and Maggie Grace. (Also, a reminder that you can read previous live-tweets here.)