Film
Hard Target
I couldn't believe that there was a Jean Claude Van Damme film that went under my radar as I just seem to consume all of his work throughout the 90s and into the early 2000s it seemed to me anyway at least and yet somehow I completely neglected Hard Target despite it being from such a visionary director like John Woo and well its all history now and everyone is aware that Woo's venture into Hollywood was pretty much a disaster across the board, but now looking back at Hard Target, time seems to have treated this film rather well, yes the first half of the film is extremely cheesy with some ridiculous slow motion sequences that are rather embarrassing, but if you stick with the rough stuff in the first 30 or so minutes you will be rewarded with some excellent direction of action and Van Damme at his physical peak of badass karate arse kicking chops (despite that awful mullet of a hair do - almost convinced me this was an 80s film). Lance Henriksen provides just the right balance of over the top performance to sell himself as the perfect 90s action villain, it was really hard not to love this film by the time the credits rolled, but it would have been nice to see one extended sequence of the 'human hunt' sport that made the best use of John Woo's expertise and for that reason alone I'd knock this film down a mark, but if you like either Woo or Van Damme then you really should be added Hard Target to your list of films to watch on Netflix because although the flaws of the film are hard to ignore you are ultimately rewarded with some thrilling action that stands the test of time and far exceeds much of what big budget studios in Hollywood are even putting out to today, one might even say it carries a double impact.
7/10
Documentary
Being Elmo: A Puppeteer's Journey
Had me meaning to catch this documentary ever since its original release, but time seemed to pass by and almost instantly the sex scandal rumours surrounding the puppeteer behind Elmo came out around the time of the DVD release of the documentary and that news kind of left me feeling rather confused as to whether or not this was something that I was entirely comfortable with heading into the documentary; but more time has passed since then and I can't remember ever hearing anything that carried any weight or evidence against Kevin Clash (Elmo) and seeing it appear on Netflix was that push that I needed to finally catch up with the documentary. Unfortunately I think that my expectations for this might have been a little too high going in; what we do learn from Being Elmo, is that the story and the history of Kevin Clash's childhood and following his dreams is a very compelling story with a great deal of rich sources for which to pull from, and the history of Elmo, The Muppets and Sesame Street itself is a wonderful nostalgia trip down memory lane that really does bring back some great childhood memories of television back in the day, its just a shame that as a documentary; Being Elmo is really rather generic in its approach and execution and had it not been for the intriguing background and life journey of Kevin Clash himself then there really isn't much that the documentary has to offer outside of this and while the subject is enough to keep the strings intact and not to end up in ball of mess, it's nothing more than a serviceable documentary that doesn't really leave much of an impact on its audience. If you are a fan of The Muppets and Sesame Street then I would recommend you check out this documentary just to learn more about the behind the scenes of the show and take the time to see the wonderful background of one of the shows key players Kevin Clash and the man behind every child's favourite Muppet - Elmo.
6/10
TV
Bates Motel Season 1 (Episodes 1-8)
What a strange beast of a TV show Bates Motel is; so its a prequel to Psycho but in a modern day setting and yet aesthetically parts of the show and some of its key players seemed to be stuck in the 1950/60's - now it was an impossible feat to try and even live up to the heights of Alfred Hitchcock's horror masterpiece Psycho and even more so for myself to try and distance my own opinion on the show that tries to take out any comparison with one of my all time favourite films from one of my all time favourite directors; but with this show I've tried just to judge the show on its own merits and flaws and try not to let my decisive verdict be influenced by my strong feelings for the film. What I will say is that had I not been watching the show with my wife, I might have already dropped this show, but not because that I find the show to be boring or bad in any way whatsoever, but with the sheer volume of high quality shows seemingly available right now we live in a time where it is impossible to watch everything; but my wife seems to be really enjoying the show and at this moment in time, I will say at the very least it is always good to see Vera Farmiga on screen and here in Bates Motel she is delivering an excellent performance with a take on the younger and livelier Norma Bates which I find immensely enjoyable to see her inner mind unravel as she tries her hardest to keep her son Norman close to her; and even Freddie Highmore as Norman Bates I feel gives some really strong performances that when detached from the direct comparison of the stellar performance of Anthony Perkins, is again a very enjoyable thing to watch. Now the rest of the show and the bizarre nature of the small town in which the show is set you can take it or leave it, its pretty much hit and miss with various different story threads, but overall I enjoy myself whilst the show is on, but can't see that I find myself thinking too much about it an hour or so after we've finished an episode. I think if you're a fan of Psycho and would like to see the history of the key characters then Bates Motel is worth at least giving a trial run, but considering what other shows are out there as direct competition then I can't really strongly recommend this as a 'Must See' show.
Arrested Development Season 4 (Episodes 3-11)
This I am keeping brief as I'm almost out of energy and enthusiasm for when it comes to the subject of Arrested Development and this fourth season - as a couple, me and my wife tend to just stick to just catching up with one show at a time on Netflix, but because this fourth season has been such a rough ride we felt it necessary to pick up something else to detract our disappointment for this poorly written and poorly executed series revival; Will Arnett as GOB has at least produced a few laughs from myself in some recent episodes, but outside of that the show is still just dead air and now its just become something that I just need to complete, rather than enjoy - god I hope to put the final nail in this train wreck so and try to forget about it. If you are still not caught up with this show then I highly recommend that you just stop at the end of season 3, because this season really has absolutely nothing more to offer and will ultimately tarnish your opinion on the show as a whole.
Anime
Blue Exorcist Season 1 (Episodes 8-12)
Not really made much progress this week with Blue Exorcist, but its been pretty steady in terms of story and characters, and the more I watch the more I get the same feeling that this does feel a lot like watching Bleach - and while I do enjoy Bleach as a show more than Blue Exorcist, I'm still enjoying the ride if not all that deeply invested into the show; not much more to say really as this week it really has just been a case of more of the same and nothing really new to shine any light on the overall appeal of the show and whether or not it's ultimately something that I'd either recommend to watch or recommend to stay away from.
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