THE BEGINNING OF A QUEST - AN EARLY APPRAISAL : `PENNY DREADFUL`

Now, I told you guys I`m keeping more on top of things as far as film and TV goes. Or at least I told you that this was the intention -  the results have been patchy to say the least. But I was so struck by the first episode of Penny Dreadful I simply had to chat to you about it. Even though there are inherent dangers of starting a review of something based on a single episode. But then again, there could be fun in re-evaluating my review in a couple of weeks…

We are plunged into the dark streets of Victorian London. A mysterious woman leads our hero, an American one time performer, now odd-jobs man (and very odd indeed his jobs are) on a quest with their mysterious patron. On the way they will encounter monsters we thought were mere legend. Blood-sucking monsters, a certain Dorian Gray and an ambitious young doctor, Dr. Frankenstein all await your attention… Hold onto your hats gentlemen, it`s going to be a bumpy ride.

Now, so far we have all the staples a series like this should have. An `everyman` character in the shape of our American , Ethan Chandler (Josh Hartnett). He is both handsome and believably talented and fit enough to survive the battles with the monsters – as you may have guessed, he is an ex-soldier who now makes a living in one of the many `wild west` shows doing the rounds in Europe back in the 19^th century. I mean I like the fact that he`s not just unbelievably lucky or magically talented - he actually has army training and thus survives his first encounter with a vampire. Of course we have the femme fatale character too.  Vanessa Ives (Eva Green) who is a beautiful and mysterious woman with a dark secret. They will `drag it out` for an episode or three but so far we know it involves reversed crucifixes and spiders so I think may well be a curse of some description in there somewhere. Then the rich patron and explorer, Sir Malcom (Timothy Dalton) whose quest we are on. It`s a tad bit banal and predictable unfortunately, his daughter has been kidnapped by vampires. And the fact that he is pretty sure she has not become lunch means that there is another dark secret involved in the story somewhere. So there we have it. We have a believable protagonist (I love the fact that even in a British series the hero ends up being American. Or it may simply be the fact that there is a subtle irony on the fact that the British having explored the USA before that now an American comes back and explores the `undiscovered` world of the UK). God I need to stop going off on tangents, ok, we have a believable and handsome protagonist, a love interest, curses, magic and a source of inexhaustible wealth that removes money as any problem as far as adventures go. We`re all set for some serious adventures, groundwork is first class.

And I mean so far it`s all very believable. Very clean and tidy. I love the fact that Dr Frankenstein who is ostensibly a good guy  (although it is early days of course) borders on the unpleasant. He is not an idealist at all, he is after making the `biggest conquest` science can make : conquering death. Thus he is overambitious, snooty and bordering on the anti-social. I sense a very dark British take on a lot of classic horror characters coming up. Just the sort of thing I love. Another thing the series has managed to do is to get some very disparate monsters to coexist. It is all very much part of the `Victoriana` ethos and has a very good theme running through and tying them together. It bodes well as we have more supernatural creatures due to come on board, I will be curious to see if it gets at all messy though. God knows it has the potential to do so though.

So I mean yeah, for its first episode Penny Dreadful has done an alright job. It is definitely full of promise. I have been looking for something to get my teeth into since I got disillusioned with Game of Thrones (I`m a purist and got cross with the TV series for going off script with the book so stopped watching it at the beginning of season 3). Now I`m a bit picky with my TV series. But I have a sneaking suspicion that my personal quest may have come to an end… I`ll keep you posted. 

SOME MURDER MYSTERY WITH : "THE BLACK DAHLIA"

Ok, back to civilian life now. Well, in fact, not quite. Anyone vaguely familiar with the work of Brian De Palma will know that he is mighty fond of his cops and robbers. Now the robbers we are all very much aware of, Scarface, Carlito, they have all gone down in history as the biggies of their time. So let us turn our attention to the cops for a second. If only because none of them has even come close to achieving the notoriety that Al Pacino has given the bad guys mentioned above. Los Angeles, 1940’s. Two ex-boxers Bucky (Josh Hartnett) and Lee (Aaron Eckhart) are partners in the police force. But they have quite a bit more than their careers tying them together. They are known as Mr. Fire and Mr. Ice; Lee; Mr. Fire is the emotional, out-going and gregarious one of the two, also a heavy-weight boxer and the one with more of a “glistening” career. Mr. Ice, Bucky, is calmer, quieter a lightweight (literally) and the more junior cop of the two. But all their differences don’t stop them forming a bizarre ménage a trois with Lee’s girlfriend Kay (the enigmatic Scarlett Johansson). Their private arrangements are a little strange (I will let you discover them precisely as the film goes along) but they are good at what they do and have quite average lives until the “Black Dahlia” murder. Lee becomes slowly obsessed by the murder, ignoring duty and Ray and devoting all his time to obsessing about it. All Bucky can do is follow in his wake, the thing is, he must be very, very careful as he navigates his way; both Lee’s past and the Black Dahlia murder contains more dark secrets than he can possibly imagine. The end credits inform us that the murder that takes place in the film really happened but the film itself is a concoction of this and a novel by James Ellroy named The Black Dahlia. This is one of the things I like the most about Brian De Palma. A lot of his film tell a story that is – or at least contains an element of – true life. I’m not quite sure why this is such an important thing for me, but I truly feel that life is often much stranger than fiction and it enriches me to find out the most I can about it. The Black Dahlia is a true – blue nail biter. Stylistically it is brilliant. And even though it is a full two hours long, the minutes will, I promise you, fly by. The only thing is, the story does get a tad convoluted here and there.De Palma does give clear explanations and reminders but if, for example, you watch the film when you’re feeling rather tired and preoccupied (as I did) you will have a few “Wait, what?? Well who was… Oh… Right.” Moments. And again, the ending. *Sigh*. I mean, it’s ok. It is Hollywood I guess. You know what, in fact I need to say this, the film is so close to perfect I shouldn’t nit-pick. There. Enjoy.