Danger 5

     I said in my last post that I found the weirdest show on television. I lied. I found it this week, it's called Danger 5. 

     Danger 5 is an Australian show which is a play on 60's spy dramas mixed with WWII drama. Production wise the show looks terrible, on purpose. The girls are scantily clad, the set is poorly put together, the colors are oversaturated, and the audio goes in and out of sync. The boss of the titular Danger 5 is a man with an eagle head.

      The show is weird but it works. The dialogue is very tongue and cheek and matched with the production it looks and sounds hilarious. The plot is as over the top as the characters. Each episode the the Danger 5, each member a total caricature, has to infiltrate or defeat some strange Nazi development and, as always, kill Hitler.

     

     Hitler is a ladies man cool guy and the Danger 5 have to stop them. The second episode features Nazi dinosaur monsters. The show, created by Dario Russo and David Ashby, is ludicrous and so so funny. It's not for everyone but it's certainly found it's niche and is very popular on Netflix.

     There's a fake robot dog. That smokes cigarettes and woows men.

   The actors, even in Australia, are unknown but they don't need to give a beautiful performance in this unbelievable world where Hitler can't be hit by bullets and always escapes. 

    Danger 5 is fun and easy to watch and very entertaining. So it's not Annie Hall. It's still really really funny.

Band Of Brothers

This post I would like to talk about one of my favorite shows, Band Of Brothers. I recently re watched the whole series and the show is breathtaking every time I watch it. It follows the story and lives of Easy Company from the 101st airborne division during WWII. The characters literally go through hell and back during the war and I think the show depicts the concept of wartime very well. Its crazy how the show can have characters the audience can relate to the most and have them disappear at any given moment and I felt it showed the vulnerability of man very well. Some characters go through unforgettable experiences and if they manage to come out alive they are just filled with undesirable memories in their minds. Another reason why I love this show is the cinematography. The locations and various shots of battle just made the show so much more profound.

How About Downton Abbey?

I can honestly say it took some convincing for me to watch this show but boy am I glad I caved!

Based in the early 1920’s, this British period drama has the ability to lure you in alone with the incredible cinematography and specifics of each shot, along with its compelling plot line and characters.  I have watched many television shows but I am confident in saying that this is the most impressive ones I’ve ever seen.

The Cinematography: 

            Taking place in an age almost the exact opposite of todays modern society, its takes a lot of careful, minor detailing to convince us that it takes place in the 1920’s. The wardrobes of each individual depending on their class, the lighting of each room, the types of furniture, appliances, vehicles… You name it.   Its perfect! Or so it seems. I cant say I have literally experienced life back then but it doesn’t resist making me feel as though I have.  The intricacy of shots is one of the reasons this show is so great. For those who have never seen it I encourage you to at least watch the first 15 minutes of Episode 1 to see what I mean! 

 The Storyline: 

If you are looking for a show fast paced, full of action or murderous suspense maybe this isn’t the show for you. However, the plot is so compact and so relative to our past history, including the Titanic and WWII, that I think you will find yourself unable to just turn away.  There is such a range of characters and personalities its inevitable that you will love and hate more than one, and you can just imagine the kind of drama that is create within that aspect as well!

 So like I said before, if you haven’t see the show just give it a try! No matter what you will get something out of it whether it is just a history lesson.

Same War, Different Battles

My newest TV addiction is Canada's Bomb Girls.

Set during the beginning of WWII, Victory Munitions is building bombs to help the cause.  A richer, well to do woman, Gladys Witham, wants to help out with the cause and not just by making appearances at her father's fundraisers. Instead of taking the office job at VM, she decides to go against her parent's wishes and ends up working on the floor. Her dad ends up using to his advantage and uses her as the spokeswoman for his grocery store chain.

At the factory, we meet a wide array of characters with great background stories for each of them. Like Kate, a woman on the run from her abusive bible thumping father. From the first episode, you know that she's had issues trying to fit in and keep the past, the past. She also gets the nickname "Church Mouse" for her gospel-like singing voice.

And my personal favorite character is Betty McRae. She's sassy and very strong willed and one of the best workers at the factory. She ends up taking Kate under her wing and falls in love with her. She tries to be a girl and dates one of the boys at the factory but it ends up more like a bro-mance with hanging out in bars and talking about hockey with him. She also is a farmer's daughter with three brothers so when someone twists her the wrong way, she can handle what's thrown at her. In an episode when three German POWs escape, she ends up finding one in her boardroom's basement and we learn that other than being a lesbian, we find an even bigger secret. She's actually German and her family has hidden fellow German's from internment camps. Although the escaped Nazi believes that she's fellow Nazi, she ends up ratting him out explaining that just because she's a German, doesn't make her a Nazi. She also beats him up a little bit which was pretty awesome to watch.

Vera Burr, due to a factory accident she's now slightly disfigured... well, has an awesome scare on her face, is known as a "Patriot-tute", a woman that sleeps with soliders for gifts. She's also sassy and very on her toes due to the accident.

Floor matron Lorna Corbett, whose two sons are pilots in Europe, her daughter is working as a nurse at the local hospital and her husband is a veteran of WWI and was left disabled and in a wheelchair after a bomb exploded near him. This all leads to affairs and stress at work... But she's also one of the strongest women next to Betty.

There are more characters in the show that really bring to life what it was like to really be fighting on the homefront during WWII. They try to show that this isn't just a man's war and that everyone can pitch in some how. With some great acting, cinematography and costuming, this is probably one of the best TV shows I've watched in a while.

Also... I need all of the shoes and dresses this girls wear... 

Greer Garson Mondays

Last night, my grampa turned on TCM like he usually does and it happened to be Greer Garson Monday's during the month of March. So basically that means every Monday evening during March, they have a Greer Garson marathon.

We watched her in Mrs. Miniver and Random Harvest. Mrs. Miniver was about a British family struggling during the first few weeks of WWII. Mrs. Miniver, played by Garson, is a wife and a mother of three, a little girl, a little boy and an older son who joins the air force. Her son also just got married to a well to do girl, and they're both about 18 years old.

The youngest son is overly excited about the war and thinks it's going to be the coolest thing ever, but of course it really isn't. There is a scene that I believe sums up what families in Great Britain were experiencing during the war. Mr. and Mrs. Miniver and the two youngest children have to hide out in their bomb shelter. It's small but cozy with bunk beds for the children, a little room to move around to have tea and knit. Mr. Miniver is showing off to his wife a new air vent he had put in that turns green when poisonous gas comes through so you kno when to close it off. Of course the two kids are sleeping through most of the bombings but eventually a few bombs hit a little bit to close and everything shakes and falls, scaring the children who are crying. After another bomb that hits them closely, their bunker door opens for you to see what the blitz really looked like.

I really enjoyed this film- it was a different view of WWII that most people haven't experienced. Mrs. Miniver. This film won 7 academy awards including Best Actress and Best Movie and was nominated for 3 others. And all of that doesn't surprise me one bit- it was fabulous and well done and the sets were to die for. There were some comedic parts, serious parts and some parts of the film that took you by surprise.

This is why I love TCM- you see movies that you never thought of seeing before with actresses or actors you've never heard. Next time I have the opportunity... well, next monday... I'm going to watch more Greer Garson films.