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Farthingale
Reviews
Over the Top (1997)
A Lucky Fan Who Saw The Lot
Here in Cape Town, we saw the entire season. And I promise you, it was jolly funny! Tim and Annie and Simon and Hadley never stopped sparring, but their relationship and characters evolved over the course of the show, which was great fun to watch.
The supporting cast was also a treat, starting with the always-hilarious Liz Torres as man-crazy Rose, Steve Carell as zany, temperamental chef Yorgo, and Marla Sokoloff as the frustrated teen Gwen. A personal favourite is John O'Hurley as uptight but enamored accountant Robert, who carries a torch for Hadley right to the end.
A very warm, sweet series, I thought.
The Batman (2004)
Black and White Dark Knight
My biggest problem with The Batman is not the Jackie Chan flashbacks, or the I'm-So-Frikken-Contemporary soundtrack... it's what has been done to the franchise's most effective element: its villains.
One need not go into the global outrage at the 'new and improved' Joker. Anyone who's read the comics will most likely just blanket Monkeyfist-in-drag from their minds, or (like I do) imagine him to be a terrible poseur, who slipped onto the scene while the real Mr J was out of town.
But look at the other villains, if you will, and observe every streak of humanity being burnt from them. Remember the pathos you felt for poor Manbat? Doomed by his ambitions? And Doctor Freeze, fighting a losing battle against his wife's mortality? Or the Penguin, self-consciously 'freaky' and trying to compensate with shows of overwrought grandeur? Or Pamela Isley, so concerned for the environment that she became a plant herself? Well worry no longer, regular people! Your villains are now completely two dimensional stereotypes, who you have no danger of relating to, and are also not likely to start following as an endearing anti-hero! Manbat was especially effective as an out-and-out lunatic monster, who pretended to have family ties just to throw Proto-Batsy off the scent! Yes, friends. Worry no longer. You're safe from shades of grey in The Batman.