TV Shows:

For Whedon fans, Dollhouse premiers on Friday the 13th of Feb at 9 pm. I know I'm totally psyched for this, even if it may be the last thing my 80's vintage TV ever gets LOL (still haven't bought the converter and have no faith the thing will work with my ampliefied rabbit ears once I do get it set up). Thank Goddess for the Internet and my new (to me) DSL. I watched BSG's midseason premier on the Net with a song in my heart mere hours after the show aired, and I'm hoping to do the same thing with Dollhouse if my TV craps out. Buffy/Angel fans can see Eliza Dushku (Faith) star and Amy Acker (Fred) in a small part. BSG's Tahmoh Pennikett (Helo) also has a role (my two favorite worlds collide when Buffy meets BSG!)

Premiering Feb 6 at 9 pm on Animal planet is a 12-part series called "Jockeys." Follows seven jockeys around the Oak Tree meet at Santa Anita. Big names as well as folks you may never heard of. Looks interesting and may shed light on some of the problems (like making weight and the long term issues the solutions for this brings) jockeys face. Unless this airs on the Net too, I'll be waiting for the DVD release.


DVDs:

Brideshead Revisted (2008) - I generally have a high tolerance for slow English drama (The Enchanted April is one of my all time favorite movies). But this one...well, it's 2+ hours of my life I'll never get back. It wasn't that it was boring; on the contrary, it's well acted, beautifully filmed, and has pretty people in it. But as the movie went on, I realized the characters were generally incomprehensible when it came to their motives, and I quit believing in them and also feared there would be no pay off at the end of the movie (and I was right). By the flick's end, the only character I had any sympathy for was the one who was ostensibly a monster. I'm not sure if the disconnect I felt with the movie is due to this adaptation and what it chose to emphasize or if I'd dislike the source material as well. I don't intend to find out. Not recommended.

Young @ Heart (2007) - I'm a big fan of documentaries, but most of them aren't as moving and uplifting as this one. This group of senior citizens intent on making music until they can't anymore is sure to make you feel both good and terribly sad. Watch it with Kleenex handy; you'll need it between the laughs. Highly recommended.

Standard Operating Procedure (2008) - [Slight spoilers but not like this isn't a known story.] Chilling look at the photos of Abu Ghraib from the perspective of some of those involved in taking them or staging them. Even more chilling is the investigator, the one interviewee who seemed "clean," and his assessment of what is a criminal act and what is standard operating procedure (SOP allows a hell of a lot more than I expected). You'll come away depressed from this film--I'm from a military family, not predisposed to hate all things martial but this left me wondering when we become a nation that could do this? Also the next time you see the "An Army of One" ad, think an army of 1/25th. These are not smart kids for the most part that got sucked up in this; they're going to annoy the hell out of you as they try to justify what they did (even if you realize they didn't do it alone and were singled out to pay the price, it's nearly impossible to feel bad for them). Recommended.

Jockey (2004) - An eye opening look at the price paid by jockeys to make weight. An HBO film that ostensibly is following three jockeys if you read the blurbs for it, it's really following one apprentice jockey, one injured rider, and one retired (and very sick) jockey. This film does not shy away from topics that weren't often discussed when this was made: purging, diuretic use, laxatives, the overuse of the sweat box and what all of these things do to a jockey's ability to ride strong versus thin--as well as the long-term cost and the impact of having no insurance, no riders union, etc. It's more a character study than it is about horse racing--and the moments they show with horses are often tragic--so I don't recommend this for someone who just wants to see a good film about racing (try On the Muscle instead). But for those who want to dig a little deeper into the sport, this is a good option.

The Tudors, Season 2 (2008) - [Spoilers only if you don't know your history.] This series is lush and fast moving, filled with beautiful people with perfect skin and snowy white teeth in lovely, lovely costumes. Yes, it plays fast and loose with history (but not as fast and loose as the "let's rewrite everything we know and turn Mary Boleyn into a saint and crucify Anne" travesty The Other Boleyn Girl ::spits::), and historical inaccuracy would normally bug the crap out me, but most of the time I can live with it in this series because I believe they are trying very hard to bring the "spirit" of the times and the king to the screen. It bothers me immensely that they've cast a wiry brunette in the role of Henry; to be honest, the actor who played Buckingham in the first season would have made a much more realistic Henry both in terms of robust golden vigor (Henry should have been in his 40's during the Anne period, not his 20's) and as an older, fatter, Henry. It's hard to imagine Jonathan Rhys Myers running to fat anytime soon (although the last scene of season 2 is a chilling moment that gives a taste of how he might become the corpulent monarch we all think of--plus the symbolism of that meal is intense; methinks he won't be mating for life anytime soon.). I like this series in how it portrays Anne. She's neither villain nor saint. She's a victim in some ways, of her family's ambition, but also of her own desires, and Natalie Dormer (does anyone else think she looks like the love child of Diana Rigg's Emma Peel and Linda Thorson's Tara King?) is incredibly effective at portraying the contradictions of a woman like Anne. The most fascinating character to me is James Frain's Cromwell. So often Cromwell's played merely as an ambitious slug, and Frain brings so much dimension to the man; even when the script doesn't give him room, he finds a way to show something more in his eyes. I still think Anne of a Thousand Days is one of the better depictions of the Anne Boleyn story (and I've spent most of my life obsessed with her and the Tudors so I've watched and read most of the treatments), but this series definitely has some merit underneath all the supermodel good looks, whitening-tray teeth, and frequent nudity. Recommended with caveat that before or after you read some history about the Tudors to get the real story.