A Month in Review, Aug 8 to Sep 6

For a month in review post, this one is actually quite short. I haven't really done that much of note in the last month. Christina moved in, so there was that. And we watched a lot of episodes of So You Think You Can Dance and Queer as Folk. And I've read a lot of reddit threads. And I've been busy at work for a nice change. And I listened to a ton of music as research for the favourite albums posts. It was overall a pretty good month, just not very blogworthy.

The Month in Movies

I can't believe I forgot to review Inception last time. As a big fan of Christopher Nolan's films (Memento and The Prestige, mostly), I was quite excited to see his latest mindbender. What took me by surprise was the fact that it is actually a pretty straightforward storyline. The ending is left open to interpretation, but Inception is otherwise completely logical in structure and easy to follow, once you accept the premise's rules. Repeat viewings are not required to understand Inception, but there are enough details and subtleties to keep the movie interesting in repeat viewings. That is good movie-making. And Inception also features top-notch acting and action. Joseph Gordon-Levitt's zero-gravity scenes were the highlight for me.

As good as Inception was, I enjoyed Edgar Wright's Scott Pilgrim vs. The World even more. I haven't read the source material (soon?), but this live-action video game of a movie was entertaining from start to finish, features one of the coolest soundtracks I've ever heard, and even made me like Michael Cera again. From Spaced to Shaun of the Dead to Hot Fuzz to this, Edgar Wright has yet to disappoint.

The Month in Music

Disturbed's "Asylum," released August 31, is a solid hard-rock album. All of the songs are pretty good, but there is an undeniable sameness to a lot of Disturbed's songs since 2002's "Believe," and I certainly don't think they broke out of that rut with "Asylum." Disturbed is clearly unconcerned with diversity. "Asylum" is a more consistent album than 2008's "Indestructible," but "Indestructible" had better stand-out moments, so I'll call them even. Best Disturbed album is... hmmm... I'll go with "Ten Thousand Fists," I guess.

The Month in Television

My first TV task of August was catching up with Eureka's in-progress fourth season, which has surprisingly been the best season of the series to date. The writers took a big risk in the season premiere that could easily have backfired in a huge way, but have so far managed to make it work rather well.

More recently, I also finished all six series/seasons of hilarious British comedy Peep Show. This series might just be my new favourite comedy series of all time. If I compare only its first two seasons with the two seasons of The Office, The Office wins, but Peep Show kept getting better throughout its third season and hit its comedy genius stride in season four. It's embarrassing how often I identify with pathetic sad sack Mark Corrigan. A seventh season is coming later this fall, so: yay!

It is now September, so that means the return of endless television viewing. I'm looking forward to (in alphabetical order) 30 Rock, The Big Bang Theory, Chuck, Dexter, Fringe, fucking Glee, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Modern Family, The Office, South Park, and Stargate Universe. I'm reluctantly also going to watch The Amazing Race, House, How I Met Your Mother, and Merlin. I'm undecided about Survivor. And I'm annoyed that Caprica and Parks and Recreation are being held for midseason.

As for new shows, I'm not watching any of them, at least not at first. Not even the promising No Ordinary Family. I can always catch up later if the buzz is strong.

Loved: Futurama (7x9-12), Penn & Teller: Bullshit (8x10), Sherlock (1x3)
Liked: Eureka (4x6-8), Hung (2x6-9), Mad Men (4x3-7), So You Think You Can Dance (7x22/23), So You Think You Can Dance Canada (3x1-11), True Blood (3x8-11), Warehouse 13 (2x6-9)
Meh: Entourage (7x6-9)

In the best news of the month, Futurama continues to kick all kinds of ass. I can definitely count on twenty minutes of hilarity every week.

Sherlock's third episode/movie, "The Great Game," was the second best of the three, ending with quite the unexpected jolt. I'm looking forward to more of this series, in a year or two or whenever...

Bullshit's season finale, "Vaccinations," was definitely one of the strongest episodes in the eighth season. In particular, the duo's episode-opening demonstration of the effectiveness of vaccinations was eye-opening. Anti-vaxxers need to fuck off and die.

Eureka and Warehouse 13 had fun crossovers this month that I enjoyed. Eureka has definitely been the better of these two similar silly shows this season, but I nearly always guiltily enjoy both.

Sadly, I'm getting a little bored with the rest of the shows. Like with its second season, True Blood's third season lost a lot of momentum in the second half and is now getting kinda boring sometimes. Mad Men seems to have no dramatic thrust this season, so is just there. Hung is still mostly just okay. Entourage is up and down and all over the place. The three HBO shows end their seasons this coming Sunday. I am still pretty excited for True Blood's finale, as episode eleven did have quite the awesome cliffhanger ending. Perpetually overrated Emmy-winner Mad Men still has half a season to impress.