Happy New Year

Suffering the last of April's storms, I thought I'd sit down and write something at long last. The main reason for the long time in writing is the amount of work and the long drive home, which the roadworks at J30 of the M25 have made even longer.

I've not really been ripping through the movies much, although there are one or two interesting ones. First, Fruitvale Station. On New Years Day, 2010, Oscar Grant (Michael B. Jordan) was shot and killed by a Transit Policeman in San Fransisco, while handcuffed and unarmed. The film depicts the day leading up to his death, as well as showing flash-backs to his earlier life.

Although this is a film worth watching due to it's subject matter, it's not preachy or trying to convey any message other than that of a waste of life, and it does carry you along. The only complaint I have is that the sound quality is bad and it's difficult to follow the conversations. Recommended.

Tomorrowland stars George Clooney as a former child inventor who discovered a parallel, futuristic city.

A strange, confused film that just avoided bombing at the box office, it's difficult to see who it would appeal to. It's too complicated for children and teenagers (where is Tomorrowland, is never successfully answered), and there's too many children in it to appeal to the adults. This is mitigated to some extent by the gobsmacking special effects in the visualisation of Tomorrowland, how everyone in the 1960's thought the 21st Century would look.
There's also been a new series of Bosch on Amazon. Harry Bosch investigates what looks like a gangland shooting:

Slightly less distracted than the first season, Welliver slips back into the role like an old, favourite jacket. Ten hours well spent.

Bosch and FBP: Federal Bureau of Physics

Last night, or rather this morning, I was up watching a series whose pilot I'd watched a few months ago on Amazon, based on the crime novels by Michael Connelly. L.A.P.D. Detective Hieronymus “Harry” Bosch (Titus Welliver) is called in to investigate some bones found by a dog in the Hollywood Hills.

Ably supported by an excellent cast (including Jamie Hector as his partner and Lance Reddick as his ambitious and more political boss, both actors from The Wire), Welliver looks very suited to the role and the story is excellent, as you would expect from the author of The Lincoln Lawyer. The only complaint is that when there's a deviation from the main character, it does feel somewhat artificial and contrived. Overall, though, it's an enjoyable, if conventional, series. I even like theme tune.

I'm also reading a Trade Paperback from Vertigo about an agency that fixes breakdowns in the fabric of reality. Trying to determine what happened to his father in a "quantum tornado", Adam Hardy joins the Federal Bureau of Physics and, with his partner Jay Kelly, gets caught in a bubble universe trying to rescue a financial fraudster.

I'm always looking for comics that break out of the conventions of the genre and this is no exception. Written by Simon Oliver (Story), Robbi Rodriguez and Rico Renzi (Artwork), it's just one roller-coaster of weirdness, but intriguing and entertaining in equal measure. And not a super-hero or zombie in sight.