A Superhero, a Mod, a Luxan and Columbo walk into a bar POSTED BY VINNIE BLESI, April 3, 2012 Share
"The Green Bee"
I recently had the misfortunate to see the Seth "Bro"gen version of a sacred franchise, "The Green Hornet", and it was painful. It is easily one of the most stupid and vapid major studio releases in recent memory, although there have been many. The movie studio executive that green lighted this film with Sloth Rogen should be forced to watch this film with his eyelids pinned open for 80 hours straight. I would rather watch the "C" (not even B movies) movies on Fearnet, that feature a group of teens who choose to party in either: an old deserted mansion, a remote isolated island, a closed mental hospital, or in the middle of the woods by the house of a backwoods family that has to keep cousin Jeb locked up in the root cellar, and are ultimately stalked by a psycho killer or zombies than endure "The Green Hornet" again.
"Paul Weller, "Sonik Kicks"
The punk legend, Paul Weller of the Jam and later the soulful Style Council has released his latest contemporary rock record, "Sonik Kicks". After years of solo soul releases' one of the pioneers of the UK punk/mod scene has a new CD that blends pop, rock, ska and the occasional well placed electronic synth.
Working with Blur guitarist Graham Coxon and Noel Gallagher, Weller produces his most relevant and compelling CD in years.
"I can't swim, I don't even like a deep tub."Columbo'"
My favorite night on television is Sunday on the retro TV station "Me TV", shown locally here in Tampa Bay on 8Prime. Sundays start with "Columbo", starring Peter Falk. Both the actor and the long running television series are underrated. The series is well known for its cast of murdering famous guest stars and the intentional bumbling of Lt. Columbo to catch the murderers off guard.
Following "Columbo" MeTV has a show that I never knew existed until recently, a weekly serialized version of "The Invisible Man" circa 1958. In this version "The Invisible Man" works towards not only curing his invisibility but helps solves crimes in his spare time.
Boris Karloff's anthology "Thriller" which ran in the early 1960's is next on the lineup. This inconsistent series featured many up and coming actors and writers, such as Robert Bloch, William Shatner and Leslie Neilson.
The quality programming of classic TV continues overnight, with "The Twilight Zone", "The Fugitive", "Peter Gunn" and "Route 66".
"Farscape Season One rediscovered"
I have recently been watching and rediscovering the wonder of series one of the science fiction TV show, "Farscape". An ambitious show produced by Jim Henson Studios and writer/creator Rockne S. O'Bannon, that ran from 1999 to 2003. Originally an Australian production, it was eventually picked up by the cable channel Sci-Fi network.
Season one of "Farscape" clearly shows what was right about the show. An interesting cast of misfit, and sometimes adversary characters, thrown together into a situation that required them to trust each other for survival. Aboard a ship that was alive, Brian Henson's makeup work is superb, from "Pilot" who is embedded into the living spaceship, "Moya", to the Luxan warrior, Ka D'Argo.
The first season drew on simple but dramatic scripts that could easily be viewed as standalone episodes. The downfall for this series was its continually complex and convoluted storylines that were continued until next week.
However, if you have never seen "Farscape", I recommend you check it out, at least the first two seasons. Who knows you may become addicted to this wormhole sci-fi.