Peep Show Rides Again!

It seems like a long time ago that Channel 4's Peep Show last blessed our screens with a new episode, but in fact it was less than a couple of years ago. Series 8, which has just kicked off, felt like a meeting up with my best friend from primary school that I haven't seen since. It had been ages and so much had happened since. The good thing was, my old friend hadn't changed much - he (Peep Show is definitely a 'he' I think) was pretty much exactly as I remembered him.

The first episode, 'Jeremy Therapised', did as good a job as it always does in getting straight into the action and not going over a load of old ground. Characters Jeremy and Superhans welcome us to the opening episode and we get their bad-band-backstory without clunky revelations. Being completely honest (though probably over-critical), there was a teeny bit of rough exposition, like when Mark hands over his baby to Jeff (for some reason, Neil Fitzmaurice's character is one of the ones I most like to see in an episode). The way he talks about their relationship is a bit 'on the nose', but it's to be expected that some things need a bit of a 'helping hand' so the audience doesn't spend the rest of the series under-illuminated.

Also, I felt a little bit like there wasn't as much 'stuff' in the episode as there usually is. For example, Jeremy's chat with Dr. Bendick involves a gag that goes on for quite a long time and the punchline is quite flat and not that funny. These longer scenes (most of which are funny, in the inimitable Peep Show style) just seemed to lack the punchy, dynamic, almost hectic activity of previous series. But then, after re-watching it, I'm probably being too critical, arising from having watched all other seven series and being able to judge it against all that material. There is a lot going on, so I'm being overly-picky to say that it could be better.

It's shaped up to be another great series, even though Mark seems to be less likeable (I normally see him as merely spineless, but in this first episode he's a bit darker - mirroring some dark plot points - and more of a knowing arsehole). I would recommend everyone give it a try, though I know from asking other people that it tends to be a marmite comedy; you either love it or hate it. That might sound like a disclaimer, but really I find it hard to accept that it's possible not to find it one of the best, and one of the most important, chapters in not just British comedy, but in the world's.

Did I mention I've met David Mitchell?

Here's a review of the episode over on the Den of Geek site: http://www.denofgeek.com/tv/peep-show/23577/peep-show-series-8-episode-1-review-jeremy-therapised. I think it offers a nice counterpoint to my ramblings.

Gooooooooooooood Films

You know, I was just watching a film and it was like one of those fabled 'holidays'. You know the ones where you have a brilliant, almost transcendental time in some sort of paradise without any negatives spoiling the whole experience? Personally, as a moany Brit, I know how after a holiday things crash down into the shitty reality you've been trying to escape quicker than you can say 'ant'. Think landing back in your country; the security and baggage retrieval is enough to basically undo the entire illusion of the whole bloody thing...

Well, this film I was watching (Hannibal directed by Ridley Scott in 2001 for those of you who barely care) was one of those that really had me suspending my belief. The villain of the piece, Dr. Lecter, really is one of the all-time greats. Fantastically gifted in the mental department, he is revealed to us in many ways; his taste in classical music, his taste in fine dining, his historical interests, his avid reading and his absolutely clinical execution of his crimes. The film is so great to watch, though, because there is no 'clunkiness'. The classical music is part of the soundtrack, the historical interest is basically a part of the plot, the dining is a (perhaps even the) integral scene where someone's own brain is fed to them delicately cooked alongside a good glug of wine [oh yeah, SPOILER ALERT], all so natural.

The characters are all so compelling too. Ironically, I missed a bit of the first part of this film, but the character Clarice has our 'sympathy' because she is trying to do a job for the 'common good' against a 'monster'. We also feel for the 'monster' because he is so cool and civilized that it's hard to believe he has some pre-meditated agenda. In another film I watched recently (Christopher Nolan's The Prestige, 2006), the 'status quo' was handled so quickly and poorly that I knew not the characters and, when 'things started happening' it was genuinely hard to care about it.

Although I'm not saying either films are by any means the best or the worst I've ever seen, I'm just saying that Hannibal is one example that overrode my cynical nature enough, and I enjoyed the film well. This is even though the film was interrupted by the annoying ITV2 adverts (see here for my last 'cutting' rant about film on telly), so it basically deserves extra credit.

In fact, even the closing credits seemed suave and sophisticated, indicative of the intellectual intrigue of the film you've just watched and, indeed, making you hungry for the next film in the series. Great all-round entertainment... but, wait... what's... what's that?

OH IT'S THOSE F***ING TIT-HEADS THAT INFEST EVERY SINGLE AD-BREAK ON ITV2 WITH THEIR PUERILE, MORONIC AND GENERALLY 'WHY ARE YOU STILL ALIVE'-STYLE STUPID BEHAVIOUR. THIS IS FOR A DIRECTORY ENQUIRY? A F***ING DIRECTORY ENQUIRY? THIS KIND OF PAIN IS NOT EVEN RESERVED FOR WAR CRIMINALS... JUST GO AWAY! I WAS JUST DIGESTING A BRILLIANT FILM AND THEN YOU SMARMY F-WITS COME ALONG GETTING TWO HOLES-IN-ONE AT ONCE, or CLEVERLY ROLLING SOME BALLS ON A BILLIARD TABLE SO THAT THEY SPELL 118, or CATCHING CRICKET BALLS IN HATS LIKE ONLY ABSOLUTE C*CKS*CK*RS COULD EVER DO!

It's fine though. Good film. Go see it if you can.

[Thanks to http://www.118.com/ for their 'cooperation']