Television shows are often well known for their opening title sequences, indeed they clue you into the whole tone of the show in anywhere between 30 and 90 seconds. However, you don't always watch the intro sequence, oftentimes you might skip them entirely, but there are some that you find yourself watching every single time - and in this day-and-age when DVD boxsets are ever-so popular, that really shows true quality. Indeed, a really good title sequence makes you want to be a part of the world you're about to enter, whatever that world may be.
So without further ado, off the top of my head, some of the opening title sequences that I watch every single time without fail are:
The A-Team:
One of the greatest theme tunes for a television show ever, even people who have never watched a single episode know exactly how it goes and where it came from, but as someone who has poured over all five seasons on DVD (after watching the show as a child), you can't help but dig the fun-loving, boy's-own-adventure sense of fun this intro sequences inspires. Even the re-vamped season five intro grew on me.
The A-Team: Season 5 intro here.
Deadwood:
An excellent show that I came to very recently, but which sports an opening titles sequence that perfectly got me into the mood for a fresh episode. The choice of shots, almost all of which are in seductive slow motion, perfectly define the atmosphere of the setting of the show - a gold rush pioneer settlement where money, power, sex, corruption, gold, and booze run free and cross borders with each other routinely.
Continue reading after the jump...
Thursday, 5 April 2012
Tuesday, 3 April 2012
The Walking Dead - memes/lols galore!
Find more Walking Dead memes HERE.
Stumble around the internet for a minute or two and you'll be liable to come across a meme or lol relating to AMC's smash hit zombie drama The Walking Dead, a show which I absolutely adore. I've been enjoying the hell out of the memes/lols that are out there via a few threads over on Homepage of the Dead (although beware of spoilers, those who have yet to see all of season two), so I figured I'd throw my hat into the ring with one dedicated to a little aspect of the show that has always made me smile.
Don't get me wrong, Jon Bernthal's performance on the show has been fantastic (indeed the entire cast is a joy to watch), I'm just having a little bit of fun with this particular character trait.
A couple more relating to the season two finale after the jump ... also see more memes from the season one finale HERE.
Stumble around the internet for a minute or two and you'll be liable to come across a meme or lol relating to AMC's smash hit zombie drama The Walking Dead, a show which I absolutely adore. I've been enjoying the hell out of the memes/lols that are out there via a few threads over on Homepage of the Dead (although beware of spoilers, those who have yet to see all of season two), so I figured I'd throw my hat into the ring with one dedicated to a little aspect of the show that has always made me smile.
Don't get me wrong, Jon Bernthal's performance on the show has been fantastic (indeed the entire cast is a joy to watch), I'm just having a little bit of fun with this particular character trait.
A couple more relating to the season two finale after the jump ... also see more memes from the season one finale HERE.
Saturday, 31 March 2012
Flavours of the Month: March 2012...
LOOKS:
The Walking Dead Season 2 - the second half of season two has been a storming success with Glenn Mazzara as the new showrunner. The scale of the look of the show has expanded, the pacing has been perfected, the drama has been ramped up even more, and boy-oh-boy did we zed-heads get some amazing zombie action too. I absolutely cannot wait for season three!
Deadwood - spotted it on sale, so figured I'd give it a spin and now I love this show. The first season is superb, as is the second (even if the dialogue became overly complicated and verbose ... as if the writers ran every word through a thesaurus), and while the third season lacks some of the propulsion and intrigue of the first two seasons (until the final three episodes when it gets nail-bitingly tense), you're so invested in the town and its residents, you don't mind that the final season has been a slower-paced affair with several vague subplots that never really developed. An excellent show all-round and I dearly hope we can finally get the much-talked-about, but never realised (thus far), TV movies that were intended to wrap up the storylines properly.
The Evil Dead - I've got it twice on VHS (cut & uncut), once on DVD (the 'Book of the Dead' edition), and now I've got it on Blu-Ray. It's a bit of an annoyance that we in Region B didn't get the original aspect ratio and a few other additional extras (as found on the now out of print limited edition that Region A got), but it's a spiffing way to catch up on some missed extra features from releases past, and get a remarkably good-looking spruce-up of the print.
The Walking Dead Season 2 - the second half of season two has been a storming success with Glenn Mazzara as the new showrunner. The scale of the look of the show has expanded, the pacing has been perfected, the drama has been ramped up even more, and boy-oh-boy did we zed-heads get some amazing zombie action too. I absolutely cannot wait for season three!
Deadwood - spotted it on sale, so figured I'd give it a spin and now I love this show. The first season is superb, as is the second (even if the dialogue became overly complicated and verbose ... as if the writers ran every word through a thesaurus), and while the third season lacks some of the propulsion and intrigue of the first two seasons (until the final three episodes when it gets nail-bitingly tense), you're so invested in the town and its residents, you don't mind that the final season has been a slower-paced affair with several vague subplots that never really developed. An excellent show all-round and I dearly hope we can finally get the much-talked-about, but never realised (thus far), TV movies that were intended to wrap up the storylines properly.
The Evil Dead - I've got it twice on VHS (cut & uncut), once on DVD (the 'Book of the Dead' edition), and now I've got it on Blu-Ray. It's a bit of an annoyance that we in Region B didn't get the original aspect ratio and a few other additional extras (as found on the now out of print limited edition that Region A got), but it's a spiffing way to catch up on some missed extra features from releases past, and get a remarkably good-looking spruce-up of the print.
Sunday, 25 March 2012
Triple Bill Mini Musings: The Weird, The High, and the Other...
Weird Science:
I caught some flack (in-jest) from some of the folks over on Homepage of the Dead for having not seen John Hughes' bonkers teen-sci-fi-com, and seeing as I'm a big fan of the Hughes catalogue of films, I figured it was about time I caught up with it. Anthony Michael Hall and Ilan Mitchell-Smith play two high school nerds (and social rejects to boot) put 1980s computers, phone-modems, and lax military security to good use as they create - Frankenstein style - the woman of their dreams (Kelly LeBrock). Taking them on a zany journey of self-discovery that involves all sorts of bizarro flights of fancy, it's a bloody entertaining ride. Lessons learnt include standing up to your bullying older brother (played by Bill Paxton) and a gang of bikers (including horror icon Michael Berryman, and Mad Max II's Vernon Wells), to getting the girls (Judie Aronson, and Suzanne Snyder - whom I finally discovered I recognised from Return of the Living Dead Part II). One of the great things about the movies of John Hughes is that the jokes remain fresh and timeless, and the decidedly 1980s look is always a fun time capsule (rather than a dating hindrance), and Weird Science is no different. I'm glad I finally caught up with this dose of teenage male fantasy ... well, PG-13, good-natured level fantasy, anyway!
I caught some flack (in-jest) from some of the folks over on Homepage of the Dead for having not seen John Hughes' bonkers teen-sci-fi-com, and seeing as I'm a big fan of the Hughes catalogue of films, I figured it was about time I caught up with it. Anthony Michael Hall and Ilan Mitchell-Smith play two high school nerds (and social rejects to boot) put 1980s computers, phone-modems, and lax military security to good use as they create - Frankenstein style - the woman of their dreams (Kelly LeBrock). Taking them on a zany journey of self-discovery that involves all sorts of bizarro flights of fancy, it's a bloody entertaining ride. Lessons learnt include standing up to your bullying older brother (played by Bill Paxton) and a gang of bikers (including horror icon Michael Berryman, and Mad Max II's Vernon Wells), to getting the girls (Judie Aronson, and Suzanne Snyder - whom I finally discovered I recognised from Return of the Living Dead Part II). One of the great things about the movies of John Hughes is that the jokes remain fresh and timeless, and the decidedly 1980s look is always a fun time capsule (rather than a dating hindrance), and Weird Science is no different. I'm glad I finally caught up with this dose of teenage male fantasy ... well, PG-13, good-natured level fantasy, anyway!
Wednesday, 21 March 2012
Double Bill Mini Musings: Shut Up Crime!
Super:
Coming from James Gunn - he of the script for the abominable 2004 remake of Dawn of the Dead, and behind gleefully fun horror-com Slither (and the up-coming bonkers videogame Lollipop Chainsaw) - this super hero flick about a not-so-super crazed vigilante, popped up on the radar around the same time as Defendor (starring Woody Harrelson, also about a mal-adjusted dope who takes down criminals dressed as a superhero). Whereas Defendor unfortunately didn't live up to its premise, I'm pleased to say that Super keeps a smile on the face. Sure, the second act has some uneven pacing, but Rainn Wilson's crime fighting antics (employing the use of a wrench against criminal skulls) keep the interest going throughout the efficient running time, especially when Ellen Page's comic book cutie eagerly joins forces with him. Kevin Bacon plays the big bad (who steals Wilson's wife away, played by Liv Tyler), flanked by the likes of Michael Rooker as his heavies, so the film isn't wanting for star power - it's just a shame that most of them don't have an awful lot to do. It's nothing ground-breaking, nor especially enduring, but it's jolly good fun while it lasts ... so watch out, whether you're 'butting in' an orderly queue, or pushing drugs, you're due for a brutal and bloody beating from the business end of a wrench, wielded by the Crimson Bolt - shut up crime!
Coming from James Gunn - he of the script for the abominable 2004 remake of Dawn of the Dead, and behind gleefully fun horror-com Slither (and the up-coming bonkers videogame Lollipop Chainsaw) - this super hero flick about a not-so-super crazed vigilante, popped up on the radar around the same time as Defendor (starring Woody Harrelson, also about a mal-adjusted dope who takes down criminals dressed as a superhero). Whereas Defendor unfortunately didn't live up to its premise, I'm pleased to say that Super keeps a smile on the face. Sure, the second act has some uneven pacing, but Rainn Wilson's crime fighting antics (employing the use of a wrench against criminal skulls) keep the interest going throughout the efficient running time, especially when Ellen Page's comic book cutie eagerly joins forces with him. Kevin Bacon plays the big bad (who steals Wilson's wife away, played by Liv Tyler), flanked by the likes of Michael Rooker as his heavies, so the film isn't wanting for star power - it's just a shame that most of them don't have an awful lot to do. It's nothing ground-breaking, nor especially enduring, but it's jolly good fun while it lasts ... so watch out, whether you're 'butting in' an orderly queue, or pushing drugs, you're due for a brutal and bloody beating from the business end of a wrench, wielded by the Crimson Bolt - shut up crime!
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