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House of Cards (US, 2013): Chapter 2 (Review)

Posted on February 6, 2013 by Darren

Get ready, Cathy, things are about to move very quickly.

– Frank is moving

That’s more like it. After a rocky season premiere, it looks like House of Cards might finally be settling into a groove. It’s very strange to see a four-part BBC drama adapted into a full thirteen-episode season of an American television show. Of course, the United States has a very different political system, so the machinations of the Chief Whip of the House of Representatives could never overlap fully with those of Sir Francis Urquhart. However, the first episode needed a sense of traction that was so sorely lacking.

Luckily, the second episode picks up the slack. The pieces are all in play, the characters are established. The game can be afoot.

Underwood tactics…

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Filed under: Television | Tagged: Cathy, Claire, Corey Stoll, david fincher, Francis Urquhart, Frank, Frank Underwood, Freddie, House of Cards, Ian Richardson, Jeff Beal, Kate Mara, kevin spacey, netflix, Reed Hastings, Robin Wright, Spacey, Underwood, United States, white house | 2 Comments »

House of Cards (Review)

Posted on April 2, 2012 by Darren

The wonderful folks at the BBC have given me access to their BBC Global iPlayer for a month to give the service a go and trawl through the archives. Read my thoughts on the service here, but I thought I’d also take the opportunity to enjoy some of the fantastic content.

You might very well think that… I couldn’t possibly comment.

House of Cards is an uncanny political drama. Based on the book written by Michael Dodds, the former “baby faced assassin” for Margaret Thatcher, one wonders just how much of this very dark thriller might actually be based on fact. Charting the rise of the Chief Whip of the Conservative Party, Francis Urquhart, it’s a disturbing exploration of the workings of the system as our villainous protagonist manages to efficiently (and sometimes brutally) remove any obstacles on his path to power. It’s often darkly hilarious, brutally sinister and strangely compelling – sometimes at the same time. While airing, it was granted a sense of relevance by the resignation of then-sitting Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, but it remains a gripping example of British television drama even two decades after it originally aired.

Clocking in as a compelling lead actor...

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Filed under: Television | Tagged: bbc, BBC iPlayer, Conservative, Conservative Party, David Cameron, david fincher, Francis Urquhart, House of Cards, house of cards (bbc tv show), house of cards (bbc), house of cards (netflix), Ian Richardson, margaret thatcher, netflix, Parties, politics, Prime Minister, United States | 2 Comments »

Dude, Where’s My Midnight in Paris Blu Ray?

Posted on February 14, 2012 by Darren

I own a blu ray player. I still like to buy my blu ray and DVDs, even if I accept that Netflix might render that a thing of the past. However, I can’t help but feel that some of the distributors are shooting themselves in the foot in how they are handling the medium. I mean, Criterion have suddenly decided to region-lock their blu ray releases, making the highest-quality home media releases less accessible than the DVD editions of the same films. Last week, I went to pick up a copy of Woody Allen’s Midnight in Paris from HMV, making my weekly trip and, while the DVD was present, there was no blu ray to be found.

A long, dark midnight of the format...

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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: art, Black Dynamite, Blu-ray and HD, Blu-ray Disc, david lynch, DVD, home, home video, Midnight in Paris, Movie, netflix, paris, United States, Woody Allen | 4 Comments »

Perfectly Random: Channel Surfing In The Digital Age…

Posted on January 24, 2012 by Darren

NetFlix have arrived in Ireland. Minor complaints about their selection of films aside, it’s time to rejoice as a film fan. Living here in Ireland, it can’t help but feel like we’re a bit behind the times when it comes to cinema. After all, our release schedule tends to lag behind that of our American cousins, with The Muppets only arriving on our shores next month. Still, as excited as I am at the prospect of having an entire universe of film and television at my very command, I can’t help but feel a slight sense of trepidation going forward. I know that this isn’t the end of the digital era of television, but it will undoubtedly affect the way I consume my films. And, while I’ll laud the amount of choice at my fingertips, I reckon I’ll miss the delightful randomness of channel-hopping in the digital age.

Getting on board with new media models...

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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: art, channel surfing, digital, digital television, film, information age, Ireland, Movies, muppets, netflix, sopranos | 2 Comments »

The Future of Home Entertainment?

Posted on July 2, 2009 by Darren

Blu Ray isn’t working quite the magic for home entertainment media that it should. The DVD market share is still falling and Blu Ray can’t seem to rise fast enough to catch it. There’s a lot of talk about whether hard copy media – actually owning a piece of hardware containing the movie – is outdated and the future of media consumption lies in direct downloads, but I don’t ever think that people will stop buying disks or videos or whatever the hard-copy medium of the day is.