Tuesday, March 13, 2012

If it ain't British, we ain't watching it

The Buccaneers tells the story of three American women who go to Britain to look for husbands and status. Mira Sorvino, playing a Brazilian woman, tags along because she's got nothing better to do than to chase after her friends, giggle a lot, and wear tight fitting period drama dresses. It's all very classist and over wrought. And I wasn't that impressed with the story as a whole. It was very much meh.

The bright spots in this mini series are Carla Guigno and Mira Sorvino. Any time I get to see those two cinched up in period drama dresses that show off their assets, it's a win for me. And holy hell, Carla Guigino has got some mighty mighty cleavage.

We've been watching Bramwell lately on Netflix instant and I must say that I am hooked on it. Jemma Redgrave plays a doctor in Victorian era Britain who bumps up against class prejudice, sexism, and quack doctors. This series doesn't sugar coat anything and it allows it's characters to be mostly true to the era in which it's set. All the leads turn in great performances and they make their characters really come to life.

This newish adaption of John Galsworthy's The Forsyte Saga has me hooked. Yes, it's over wrought, yes, it's full of self important aristocrats, and yes, it's full of class conflict. And it's full of great performances. But most importantly, it's full of Gina McKee. I've had a 'thing' for Ms. McKee ever since I saw her in the film 'In the Loop' and she's lithe, lovely, and luminous in this series. I find it hard to look at anyone else when Ms. McKee is on screen.

I used to think that Black Books was a one joke comedy and that joke was the drunken owner of the store for which the show is named. But after seeing more than the first few episodes, which ran for a time on Comedy Central, I can truthfully say it's more than a one joke comedy but it's obvious Dylan Moran has only one character in him, the misanthropic drunk. That's not to say he does that character badly, on the contrary, he does it better than anyone else around, but it's not much of a stretch. Tamsin Greig and Bill Bailey are more than worthy co-stars, they are both very fine comic performers in their own right. This is one of those shows that came together brilliantly.

Recapping then, I recommend three out of the four shows I just wrote about. But that's not to say The Buccaneers is bad, it's not, it's just not that good either, in my opinion.

3 comments:

beatgrl said...

If you haven't seen it already, another British miniseries worth checking out is "Mistresses."

Anonymous said...

Thanks, too, for recommending Snuff Box. Holy hell, what a weird, twisted, surreal, and hysterically funny show.

Dr. Monkey Von Monkerstein said...

It's in my Netflix instant queue beatgrl, thanks for the tip.

I can't fall in love if it's plastic kirby...