For All the Vampire Junkies

Begins tonight at 8 PM EST on the CW.

Sons of Anarchy Debuts with Charlie Hunnam's Naked Butt!

Well, if you missed the premiere of The Sons of Anarchy last night, you missed seeing Charlie Hunnam's delectable butt and his hot full back tattoo in a steamy shower scene! I was stunned into silence! I'm sure he has nothing to hide after his run on Britain's Queer as Folk, in which he played Nathan and more than bared it all in that he also had an onscreen gay sexual relationship.

Along with continuations of the plot that had been established in the premiere season, we see some new factors come alive this season. They are all intriguing, but hey, I just want to see more skin! They say there will be another shower scene towards mid-season.

Here is the preview:

Big Brother 11 Beef

Naked photo source.

Big Brother 11 - Troubled Times!

Read all about it here.

Big Brother 11 Beef

Congratulations Russell on winning Head of Household!

My Big Brother 11 Crush - Russell

Yup. His name is Russell Kairouz and I am somewhat smitten. Let's just say he is the best that BB 11 has to offer this season and the current reason that I watch. He is only 24, but seems wise beyond his years; perhaps because he had a serious motorcycle accident that could have left him paralyzed. All I can say is, hubba, hubba.

Naked photo source: Unnatural Devotions

Formidable Opponent - DADT

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Rescue Me Begins Tonight

Here are the three essential reasons I'll be tuning in at 10:00 PM on FX:

1) Daniel Sunjata

2) Mike Lombardi

3) Larenz Tate

TV Review: Crusoe

Philip Winchester as Robinson Crusoe

Avast maties! On last Friday night, I watched the two hour premiere of Crusoe based on the classic novel Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe. What can I say? If you want to get lost in an island paradise loaded with pirates, gold, often shirtless hotties, beaches, blue water, tree-houses loaded with gadgets, and the occasional shots of fetching seventeenth century babes as well as Sean Bean (YUM and brilliant acting, as in I would watch the man shovel dog shit) as his father James then this show is for you. I got swept away by the eye candy even though most of it is pretty insipid.

This is definitely the handsomest Robin Crusoe yet, played by Philip Winchester (hubba, hubba) and his costar, Friday, played by Tongayi Chirisa, is easy on the eyes as well. Sam Neill also stars as the evil Jeremiah Blackthorn. Robin pines for his wife, Susannah (the willowy and doe-eyed Anna Walton) whom he left behind with his two adorable children under the dubious care of Jeremiah. This was not in the book but is a fine addition here else 28 years of battling pirates and cannibals would get pretty dull. Note: easy way to tell who the bad guys are; they all have yellow teeth.

The show airs on NBC at 9:00 PM on the East Coast.

TV Review: Sons of Anarchy

From Futon Critic:

The plot in a nutshell: The small California town of Charming is home to outlaw biker gang SAMCRO, the Sons of Anarchy Motorcycle Club Redwood Original. Anything illegal that happens there has to go through them - guns, drugs, stolen goods, you name it - they must run it or get a piece of it. Founded shortly after the Vietnam War by vets Clarence "Clay" Morrow (Ron Perlman) and the late John Teller, Clay now runs said gang with John's son Jackson "Jax" Teller (Charlie Hunnam) at his side. And in the first of many Shakespearean twists, Clay has subsequently married Gemma Teller (Katey Sagal), John's widow and Jax's mom. Jax then is being groomed to eventually take over as president of SAMCRO, however he's starting to undergo a crisis of conscience over the club's less than clandestine operations. It all starts when the Mayans, a rival Mexican gang, robs SAMCRO's weapons depot and burns it to the ground, killing two young women in the process. Even worse for Jax and company, the guns were pre-paid for by the 19ers, an Oakland gang who doesn't take kindly to their shipment going missing; plus the Nords, a white supremacist gang lead by Ernest Darby (Mitch Pileggi), are pressing to move their meth production into Charming.

Jax however has even bigger problems on the home front - his pregnant, ex-wife Wendy (Drea de Matteo) is still hitting the needle, causing their son to be born 10 weeks premature (coupled with a genetic heart defect passed on to all the Tellers); and he's discovered some of John's old journals, writings which tell a different story about why SAMCRO was formed. Along for the ride then are fellow SAMCRO members Robert "Bobby" Munson (Mark Boone, Jr.), who spends his weekends as an Elvis impersonator; Alex "Tig" Trager (Kim Coates), the resident sociopath; Filip "Chibs" Telford (Tommy Flanagan), whose nickname comes from the Scottish slang for blade; Jean Carlos "Juice" Ortiz (Theo Rossi), the intel guy; Piermont "Piney" Winston (William Lucking), the aging consigliere; and Kip "Half-Sack" Epps (Johnny Lewis), a prospect who, well... has half a sack. Can Jax manage to steer the club away from bullets and bloodshed, restoring it to his father's vision? And will Clay - or even Gemma (again, lots of Shakespearean stuff here) - allow him?

What works: Proving that there are still genres yet to be explored on television, "Sons of Anarchy" gives us a window into the surprisingly complex world of motorcycle gangs. It's one that seems to fuse together all the crime paradigms we've seen before - from the rituals involved in joining the club; to the unflinching violence needed to survive; to the nobility of staying true to a lifestyle that is being phased out - into something new. "Anarchy" further succeeds in introducing us to this new world by giving us only enough to get by for the time being but also making sure to promise a much deeper mythology should we stick with it. Using the Jax character as our way in also proves to be a masterful stroke - he's just as intrigued and disgusted by this world as we the audience are. (And an extra kudos to the sure-to-be-the-next-big-thing Charlie Hunnam, whose performance reminds me of the late Heath Ledger.)

The plots then wisely feed off Jax's dilemma - such as in the pilot when he must convince ex-con Opie (Ryan Hurst) to use his demolition skills, much to the horror of Opie's wife (Sprague Grayden) who's futilely trying to keep them on the straight and narrow. Equally as engaging is Katey Sagal as Lady Macbeth herself, Gemma Teller. Watching her beg Clay to hammer out Jax's newfound conscience or literally handing Wendy the tools to kill herself are especially chilling. The writers however are wise enough to counterbalance said actions with a portrait of a woman who knows all too well how harsh the cards life has dealt her are. Also of note: Tayler Sheridan's Deputy Chief David Hale, whose righteous indignation toward SAMCRO is perfectly justified; and Maggie Siff's Tara Knowles, Jax's high school sweetheart who's returned home as a doctor, but hasn't quite forgotten the life she left behind.

Final Analysis:

Okay, so I've let a few episodes go by before writing this review. But, as you can see, the show is a bit more complex than I had bargained for and there really is quite a bit going on and I had to decide if I was bored, or intrigued. Bottom line, I need way more sex to be intrigued with this show. When you star is a gorgeous as Charlie Hunnam is and has an incredibly sexy full size tattoo of the club's jacket motto and logo
(that a certain blogger searched all over the internet for a photo of all morning) on his muscular back, you have to have more sex than there is in the show right now. Charlie's nudity is way underutilized. This is after all a cable tv station and much more could be gotten away with. All they have shown so far is him wearing pants and a naked woman from the side in a photo. Please, how prudish is America? And for this we get a tv rating of MA! Yes, there are sexually suggestive situations and talk, but I want to see skin! But, each week I dutifully tune in with hope that I will see more.

Meanwhile, the plot develops and I try to stay intrigued with that. Sigh. It is difficult. BTW - The acting is great, but I expect that. Katey makes a great biker mom. At least I have some distraction in Charlie. At this point I can only give the series...

*** of five stars.

TV Premiere: Sons of Anarchy

Look at what I found that is premiering tonight on FX: Sons of Anarchy starring Charlie Hunnam of the British Queer as Folk fame. Here are the preview videos from YouTube:




I have my tv set to record the show and plan to review it for you.

Flashpoint: Summer's Guilty Pleasure

Some days, I just feel so lucky. Like the day I discovered the television show Flashpoint. It is a Canadian show, but so many good shows were, that then was purchased to air in the US by CBS. Now I am just so hooked on it.


I love shows about cops and this one is extra special because it is about a swat team that operates in Vancouver. Here is the cast:

Enrico Colantoni - Sgt. Gregory Parker (photos)

Micheal Cram - Kevin "Wordy" Wordsworth

Sergio Di Zio - Mike Scarlatti

Hugh Dillon - Ed Lane (photos)

Amy Jo Johnson - Julianna "Jules" Callaghan (photos)

Ruth Marshall - Dr. Amanda Luria

David Paetkau - Sam Braddock (photos)

Mark Taylor - Lewis Young (photos)

Enrico Colantoni is a super actor and adds seasoning to the cast since most of them are virtual newcomers. They are all trained as snipers in the show, and I ask you, how sexy is that? Damn sexy! But they are all also trained as negotiators. So they can kill or talk. I feel faint.



Of course there is a cute guy on the show, hence its interest for me. His name is David Paektau. All I can say is yum! I'd love to be frisked by him in a dark alley. I think we need to use the handcuffs baby. But, he kind of has a thing for Jules, who is played by Amy Jo Johnson.


Can you believe in this day and age, Jules is having trouble being accepted into the team? Well, it is true. She has to make her bones, so to speak. And she does in the clip I have posted at the end.

How could I not post a beefcake photo of David? Sorry it is not a better one. I heard that he took part in a Victoria's Secret Catalog shoot, but I could not find that photo. You will have to settle for this one. He still needs to work on his chest a bit.


Episode 7 just aired and the next episode will air on Thursday September 11 at 10 PM on CBS in the US and Canada. Thirteen episodes are planned in all. So it is not too late to begin watching.

TV Review: Extremely Dangerous (1999)

Synopsis:

A highly trained undercover agent with Britain’s secret services, Neil Byrne’s (Sean Bean), wife and daughter were heinously murdered and he was charged and convicted with the murder. While serving his double life sentences, he was being transferred to another prison when he escaped by jumping out a bathroom window of the moving train. He is now a target with nothing to lose. He goes undercover to find out who killed his family, was it the mob that he was undercover to expose, his own agency, or the police? Could it even have been him?

Review:

The film ran for 3 hours and 20 minutes so not only was it Extremely Dangerous, but extremely long. Ponderously so and could have used a spot of editing. There was an opportunity for a tight narrative that was squandered here. The plot was great, and far more complex than The Fugitive, where the killer was the ever elusive one armed man. But this film was made for television and so had to fit into 4 episodes of 50 minutes apiece.

The acting was brilliant; kudos to the whole cast. I especially liked the taxi dispatcher Ali Khan (Nitin Ganatra) which was played with much pluck and humor. Sean Bean did a great job as a man struggling with the loss of his entire family and wrongly convicted of it. He gets to play the secret agent who can kill with a glance and does a super job of that too.

Because of the length of the film I can only give it

**** of five stars.

TV Review: Clarissa (1991)

Synopsis:

Spoiler Alert

The television production of Clarissa was loosely based on the novel by Samuel Richardson which was published in 1748. The Harlowe family has worked their way up into wealth and now wishes to rise to the aristocracy. After the death of her loving Grandfather, Clarissa (Saskia Wickham) is to be married to the odious Mr. Soames (Julian Firth) to accomplish this. She refuses and to prevent being forced, runs away with the handsome Robert Lovelace (Sean Bean). Her family disowns her and curses her in life and in the afterlife. Unbeknownst to her, he is a rake of the worst kind. His entire plan is to bed her, stealing her virtue. This plan eventually takes her to a brothel where she is drugged and raped by him. Along the way however, he is touched by her purity and is changed so that at the end he repents and actually loves her. But alas, it is too late. She is jailed for not having any money since her family has disowned her. She becomes disconsolate and ill and refuses to eat anything but bread and water. Lovelace’s best friend, Jack Belford (Sean Pertwee), vows to avenge her death and does in a duel.

Review

This is a gorgeous period and costume drama. The sets are inspiring. Note the long curved banister with the serpent head in one of the early scenes. It is small touches like these that make Clarissa special. Enjoy the beautiful embroidery and jewelling of the jackets worn by Lovelace. It is said that some were quite heavy from it. The women’s dresses are opulent and spectacular, but true to the time. Attention to detail was everything in Clarissa.

I am happy to say that the acting matched the effort put into the costumes and sets in this television drama. None of the actors was weak. Julian Firth was deliciously odious; he could not have been more so! Clarissa’s family was perfectly cruel to her and each in their own unique way. Saskia Wickham was piety herself as Clarissa. Sean Pertwee was wonderful as Lovelace’s best friend. At first supporting his rakishness, and then having doubts. Then coming to champion Clarissa, even when he knew that Lovelace’s fencing skills were far better than his and that duel him would be to sacrifice his own life. What a great job he did!

Sean Bean was deliciously sinister in his role as Lovelace. But it was how he handled the subtle conversion from rake to lover that was impressive. This would challenge any actor, but was handled impressively by Sean and is a must see. I highly recommend this movie.

I give the movie

***** of five stars.

TV Review: The Fiftteen Streets (1989)

Synopsis:

Based on the novel by Catherine Cookson the story is set in 1900 northern England in a small poverty stricken waterfront area called the Fifteen Streets. There the large O’Brien family resides. The eldest son is John (Owen Teale) and the second son is Dominic (Sean Bean) both of whom are dockworkers. Tension is introduced when a family of wealthy spiritual healers moves next door. Also, John finds himself attracted to one of his young sister’s teachers, Mary Llewellyn (Clare Holman), who is the daughter of a wealthy ship builder. Dominic is the bad seed of the family and conflict is produced there as well.

Spoiler Alert

Dominic is a drinker and carouser who chases women. He tries to seduce the daughter, Christine Bracken (Jane Horrocks), of the new family next door, but she will have none of it. He impregnates the local imbecile, Nancy Kelly (Margery Bone), and swears her to secrecy telling her that after she births the babe, he will wed her. Somehow, John catches the blame for her pregnancy and is ostracized, ruining his reputation. Dominic then plays a prank on Christine and the smart O’Brien sister when they are on a boat in the river, eventually causing them both to drown. John seeks to avenge these deaths and goes after Dominic nearly killing him; when Nancy fears that Dominic is dead she blurts out that she kept her promise to stay quiet about his fathering her babe. This further infuriates John, who will stop at nothing to kill Dominic. Will anything stop him from murdering his brother? Will he and Mary end up together even though they are worlds apart as far as class?

Review:

The location and costumes were perfection in this drama. One problem was that a modern crane was shown in one scene. The plot was a juicy one and contained many of the pressing issues of the time including religion, poverty and class. The acting was top notch on all accounts and the action was suspenseful. I cared what happened to the characters. The final scene was quite powerful and a statement and I wasn’t expecting it at all. I really enjoyed this movie. I loved seeing Sean pull out the stops to play a mean, uncaring bastard and I thought that it was well balanced by the good brother played by Owen Teale, who came across as weak at first, but became a man at the very end. I give this movie

***** of five stars.

TV Review: Scarlett (1994)

Synopsis:

Part 1

Scarlett (1994) was a TV miniseries continuation of Gone With the Wind and was based on the novel by Alexandra Ripley. Basically, Scarlett O'Hara (Joanne Whalley-Killmer) watches Mammy (Esther Rolle, great job!) die, visits her Grandfather Pierre Robillard (marvelously played by John Gielgud), flirts to no avail with Rhett Butler (Timothy Dalton) and decides she belongs with her roots in Ireland.

Part 2

Off she goes, and there meets up with Father Colum O'Hara (Colm Meaney) a generally good egg who harbors a secret crush on her while he traffics guns for an Irish secret militant society. He becomes her local mentor, escort and guide. Enter the evil Lord Richard Fenton (Sean Bean). He has seduced a local girl and pays her for her services, rapes her, then discards her when she tells him she is pregnant with his child. Lord Fenton courts the beautiful Southern Belle Scarlett, the likes of which he has certainly never seen before, and impresses her with his gentlemanly British politeness, and dashing manly charms. He gains her trust over time, eventually luring her to his bed.

Father O’Hara confronts Lord Fenton for money to send the girl Fenton impregnated to America to have the baby unless Fenton wants Scarlett to know he is the baby’s father. Fenton murders the priest to resolve these potentially scandalous issues. When Rhett’s new wife (Anne Hampton / Butler played by Annabeth Gish) dies of yellow fever Scarlett, with hopes of seeing Rhett again, tries to break off her liaison with Lord Fenton. This is not received well at all and Lord Fenton finally shows his true colors and rapes her. Unconscious from a blow, Scarlett wakens to find Lord Fenton stabbed to death. She is then charged with his murder.

Will Rhett be able to prove her innocence and save her from the hangman's noose?

Review:

You can tell from watching Scarlett that big bucks were spent on this miniseries as far as locations, sets, costumes and props. The story and plot are alright, but these were tumultuous times and some areas of controversy could have been better explored, such as the problem with freed slaves integrating into society and the Irish militants’ conflict with the British. I must say the juiciest role went to Lord Fenton, who is truly evil.

My main problem with the miniseries was the script and the acting. It was eye rollingly bad. Why does this happen with so many American TV miniseries? I just find myself listening to the lines and thinking ‘no one would ever say that’. Then there are the Southern accents. Okay, I am not a native, but I have lived in the South and I know what a true Southern accent sounds like. I could have done a better job than Annabeth Gish. Actually I felt I could have acted the entire part of Rhett’s second wife better than Ms. Gish. Let that be a testament to how bad she was not how great an actor I am.

I thought that Ms. Whalley-Killmer and Mr. Dalton were alright in their roles, but certainly not as memorable as their GWTW counterparts. They were both trying very hard and came across that way. Colm Meaney did a fine job but he is fine actor.

But for me, the show really began when Sean Bean took the stage. Of course he had the advantage of the most colorful part in the piece, but he played it to the hilt, releasing all the devilishness within himself. There are clips of his performance on YouTube, but they are in Spanish and you don’t get to hear his voice and accent and so much is lost by that. I suggest you rent it if wish to get the full treatment of his performance. He is superb as Lord Fenton the gentleman, but I am not familiar enough with British accents to say whether his upper class accent is good. It sounds good to me though. They do say of him that he is a master of accents. As I have said previously, he is so charismatic that I would watch him shovel dog shit. I hung on every moment of his scenes with Scarlett; both the ones where he was a gentleman and the ones where he was not. I just could not take my eyes off of him.

Thus we come to my final review of the film in its entirety. Part 1 was entirely forgettable and useless. Part 2 was all about Lord Fenton and the rest of the series could have been edited out. The movie ended for me with his murder. You would have to be a die hard fan to see this, but I am. Take that into account in my rating of this film. I give it

*** of five stars.

TV Review: Sharpe with Sean Bean

Lieutenant–Colonel Richard Sharpe (Sean Bean), Regimental Sergeant Major Patrick HarperDaragh O'Malley), Sergeant Daniel Hagman kneeling (John Tams), Sergeant Harris standing far right (Jason Salkey), and two others of the chosen men.

Most Sean Bean fans in the United Kingdom know him as Richard Sharpe from the television series of the same name. The series ran from 1993 to 1997 and was based on the novels by Bernard Cornwell. There was such renewed interest, that a new series was shot in 2006 and another is currently in production. Here is a complete list of episodes:

No. Episode Year

1 Sharpe's Rifles 1993

2 Sharpe's Eagle 1993

3 Sharpe's Company 1994

4 Sharpe's Enemy 1994

5 Sharpe's Honour 1994

6 Sharpe's Gold 1995

7 Sharpe's Battle 1995

8 Sharpe's Sword 1995

9 Sharpe's Regiment 1996

10 Sharpe's Siege 1996

11 Sharpe's Mission 1996

12 Sharpe's Revenge 1997

13 Sharpe's Justice 1997

14 Sharpe's Waterloo 1997

15 Sharpe's Challenge 2006

16 Sharpe's Peril 2008

Basically, Sergeant Richard Sharpe who was an extremely capable rifleman, soldier and leader was deployed in Spain during the Napoleonic war, saves the life of Sir Arthur Wellesley (David Troughton) from three French cavalry men, and is given a field promotion to Lieutenant. Here is the clip:

It was quite rare for a commoner to be commissioned in the field to an officer (or ever for that matter) because usually, officers were gentleman that had the money to purchase their commissions. So, Sharpe had to put up with much resentment, snubbing and even plans against him. This theme runs through the entire series. But Sharpe, always the one to make lemonade from lemons, uses this to his advantage many times.

Oh yes, and he is handsome. He has women falling all over him in almost every episode. Don't forget, this was Britain's answer to Magnum, P.I. So, here are two clips that show a hint of that. The first is from Sharpe's Gold and the second one is from Sharpe's Enemy and stars Elizabeth Hurley.




I loved this series. I rented it from Netflix and was quite upset when I had watched it all. My favorite episodes were Sharpe's Rifles, Sharpe's Eagle, Sharpe's Enemy and Sharpe's Gold. But they are all really good and worth watching. They are also available on YouTube.

I give the series:

***** of five stars.

Oh No! Who Will I Watch Now?

The ever tortured Warrick Brown, the scruffy bearded, green eyed and sensually lipped, sexiest CSI on CSI Las Vegas and the only reason I watch the show, was shot to death in episode 17 of season 8 by the corrupt undersheriff. They better get going on hiring a new and sexier CSI, or I will take my patronage to another show!

I wish Gary Dourdan, the actor who plays Warrick, the best of luck in his new career path. You sexy hunk, stay cool! Where can we see you next?