Spotlight: Charlie Hunnam

Who am I to question the machinations of the gods? Their existence, sure; their machinations, never. So I can only sit back and enjoy this perfect storm of hunky British actor Hunnam, perhaps sparing a moment or two to consider the lazy overuse of the phrase "perfect storm" in the media. Here's how it breaks down:

Hunnam stars in one of my favorite current shows, Sons of Anarchy, which will be wrapping up its third season tonight--Boom! Instantly dating this post! In the time-honored tradition of half of Hollywood, he is in full American accent mode as a brooding biker Jax Teller. I suppose it helps that no one knows what an "American" sounds like, but really it's a non-issue here. In fact, when I first realized back in Season 1 where I had seen Hunnam before, I was shocked that it was as English pretty boy Lloyd Haythe in Judd Apatow's dead-on early millennium college sitcom, Undeclared.

I was a big fan of the show when it aired and for that reason alone wasn't surprised when it followed Apatow's previous show, Freaks and Geeks, to cancellation heaven. And I haven't seen it since. Then IFC goes and not only airs the full run of F and G, but--you know where I'm going with this, don't you--Undeclared. Score! Really, I was excited. Still am as it's currently airing Friday nights at 11 & 11:30. And it still holds up. Maybe it's nostalgia talking or maybe the college experience is a universal constant.

The third Hunnam front hit when I recently watched his 2004 film, Green Street Hooligans. Here we have cute little Elijah Wood going to England and joining his brother-in-law's West Ham football firm. For you Budweiser-swilling Americans, West Ham is a "soccer" team and its firm is basically a gang of violent supporters. You know, hooligans (the original Brit version is just called Green Street). Playing against type (he was best known at the time for his roles in Nicholas Nickleby and Queer as Folk), Hunnam shows the tough guy cred that would lead to his casting in Sons. The movie is good, good and violent at times (director Lexi Alexander--a woman!--would go on to make  2008's Punisher: War Zone), though the end resorts to cheap, and wholly unnecessary, emotional cliches. Ok, one other nit to pick: there's a scene early on where Wood is arguing the merits of baseball using the fact that "the Red Sox have a pitcher who can throw 90 MPH." In the filmmakers' defense, they were foreigners. In Elijah Wood's defense, he's Elijah Wood.

But where does it rank on the list of soccer movies? Tough call. While it is ostensibly about soccer, there is very little actual sport in the film. I'll have to get back to you on this one.

As for Hunnam, he's done some good work and is doing some very good work on Sons. It's all going to come down to how producers see him and what direction he wants to take his career. He has the looks and has shown the range to make him someone to watch.

Distillery: Francis Ford Coppola

Film	Year	Vin	Frank
Dementia 13	1963	x	-
You're a Big Boy Now	1966	-	x
Finian's Rainbow	1968	-	x
The Rain People	1969	+	+
The Godfather	1972	+	+
The Conversation	1974	+	+
The Godfather Part II	1974	+	+
Apocalypse Now	1979	+	+
One from the Heart	1982	+	x
The Outsiders	1983	+	+
Rumble Fish	1983	+	x
The Cotton Club	1984	+	x
Peggy Sue Got Married	1986	+	+
Gardens of Stone	1987	-	x
Tucker: The Man and His Dream	1988	+	x
The Godfather Part III	1990	+	+
Dracula	1992	+	-
Jack	1996	x	-
The Rainmaker	1997	+	x
Youth Without Youth	2007	x	+
Tetro	2009	+	+
FINAL DISTILLATION		71%	47%

Key: + = Film Liked; - = Film Not Liked; x = Film Not Seen

Playlist: The Rain People

Francis Ford Coppola's little known fourth film turns out to be quite a cinematic accomplishment. "Turns out" to me, of course; it's been that way for 41 years. It's another + in his Distillation (yes, I had to fire up Big D during the holiday weekend and, yes, I have the psychological scars to prove it) and raises FFC's score to a robust 60. Still, second place, but Finch is on notice.

The acting of the three leads--Shirley Knight, whose cross country flight from her marriage drives the story in more ways than one, Robert Duvall, of course, and Jimmy Caan, who looks more than a little like Edward Burns--is the centerpiece of a creatively and excitingly shot film. Seeing Caan here makes me wish someone would find a role for him other than the same old Sonny Corleone tough guy. He's earned a late career reanimation.

My only complaint is that the music used to emphasize some of the key emotional scenes only adds a distracting layer of melodrama. Just not a good fit. Still, one of Coppola's best.

Family Fun

Happy Thanksgiving to all our loyal SMoCs from the entire SMC family (except The Distillery who is a dick). Here's a little post-trough treat you can watch with the little ones. I wonder if Vinny Guns likes this better than the original.

Playlist: M Butterfly

I am trying to catch up on all my films...I have tried to start Seventh Seal 3 times...I have fallen asleep to the commentary of Thin Red Line twice...and have made it through a few others...but this one I want to write about real quick. I own all but 1 David Cronenberg film (that is Shivers and is hard to come by)...and I just got M Butterfly a few months ago...but really had no desire to watch it...man was I wrong...it's not great, it's good though...the great part is the direction and acting...the story is nothing new...but that's because how old it is and it doesn't have the effect since we are so jaded when it comes to shock value anymore...before M Butterfly came out we already were exposed to things like The Crying Game (which had a surprise ending similar to this) and Farewell, My Concubine which was similar also ...I guess we had a string of films and the planets aligned for "She's a he" type films...it's interesting ...Cronenberg even states in an interview that this film is laid out where everyone knows that the love interest in M Butterfly is a guy...it was common knowledge...but Jeremy Irons doesn't want to know...by the end Irons is a broken man...the visuals are awesome...Cronenberg is probably the greatest director of all time...I say this because he has changed so much from his first film to his latest...they all are progressively different and evolve but at the same time keep the Cronenberg aesthetic...if you get a chance check this out..its been hard to come by but is worth it if you are a Cronenberg devotee like me.

Lifetime Movies: 2000

2000: it's like a futuristic time...a year in which we were all to have flying cars and the future was unknown and going to be awesome...For me it was the true beginning of having come out of 1999 being floored by the great films of that year...I was looking forward to Gladiator, X-Men, and Unbreakable...these were very good films...but One got me hook, line and sinker...We remembered him from Pi...which was a great independent film that made me feel good and smart since I knew and feel like I found that film...but little did I know walking into the Tampa Theater...I was a changed man coming out of Requiem For a Dream...the best film of 2000.


Darren Aronofsky made this film because in college he read the Hubert Shelby novel about a New York gang of low lifes who are drowning in their humanity and obsessive addictions. I too read many books in college rather then study like I should have...I never made movies...but now I write and talk about them. Aronofsky off a great try at Pi made this film again in Brooklyn, NY...specifically Coney Island...a place I grew up around for years...I never knew any heroin dealers...but I knew the feeling of addiction...it wasn't heroin...but pick your poison..food, women, movies...whatever

The cast is incredible...Jared Leto is fantastic and every time I see him all I think of is this film...Ellen Burstyn was robbed of an Oscar, Marlan Wayans in his best performance...and the beautiful and wonderful and gorgeous Jennifer Connelly I am now forever in love with...

The film was known for its NC-17 rating which it deserves...it might have been my first NC -17 film...I remember seeing a few of them around this time...like Cronenberg's Crash...I rewatch Requiem about once or twice a year...it always makes me feel dirty and sad...I feel like I really understand addiction and the ills of our society...what David Simon's "The Wire" does in 5 years of 60 episodes...Aronofsky does in the first 5 minutes of Requiem...take your pick...both are great...the end result is an empty feeling of loss.

Requiem has been my second favorite film of all time since 2000...it probably always will be...it's not a quotable film..it's a dangerous film...every young person should be forced like Alex in A Clockwork Orange to watch this film and be as far away from drugs as possible ..Aronofsky uses every trick in the book to masterpiece levels.

The streets of Coney Island, the language that is Shelby's and specifically street New York, the effects, the acting, and Ass2Ass...all adds up to a glorious film..and we only had to wait 6 years for the next Aronofsky film.

Distillery: Brett Ratner

Film	Year	Vin	Frank
Money Talks	1997	x	-
Rush Hour	1998	-	-
The Family Man	2000	+	x
Rush Hour 2	2001	-	-
Red Dragon	2002	-	x
After the Sunset	2004	x	x
X-Men: The Last Stand	2006	-	-
Rush Hour 3	2007	x	x
FINAL DISTILLATION		13%	0%

Key: + = Film Liked; - = Film Not Liked; x = Film Not Seen

Distillery: Michael Bay

Film	Year	Vin	Frank
Bad Boys	1995	-	-
The Rock	1996	+	+
Armageddon	1998	-	-
Pearl Harbor	2001	-	x
Bad Boys II	2003	x	x
The Island	2005	+	x
Transformers	2007	-	x
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen	2009	-	x
FINAL DISTILLATION		25%	13%

Key: + = Film Liked; - = Film Not Liked; x = Film Not Seen

Podcast Monday

It's cruel, isn't it? We get you hooked on our intoxicating voices and then make you wait for more. But think of it this way: we could probably charge you an arm and a leg (literally--don't ask) and you'd pay it and ask if we wanted more. But all we want, all we ever wanted, was for you to be our friend. So, plug in, pal, and enjoy.

This installment of the 'cast found The Distillery feeling a little blue. Vinny Guns and I didn't even try to wrap our puny human brains around the situation, but we knew we had to do something. We were running out of interns to sacrifice assign to the problem. Finally, we thought that some things may just be universal and while we couldn't cure what was bothering Big D, we could help ease its grief with a little comfort junk food.

So we crammed its gullet with the movies of Michael Bay and Brett Ratner and lo and behold I think The Distillery smiled a little (it was actually gas and we had to clear the studios for a week before it was safe to return without a mask).

Playlist: Dead Set

Sometimes it's best to stick with the basics. Charlie Brooker did just that with his 5-part British TV series about a night of the living dead. That's right, zombies, but the hook here is that the action is centered around an episode of Big Brother, which is stupidly popular across the pond (see they're not better than us. They just sound as if they are).

Zombigeddon quickly and unexpectedly sweeps across the country, and probably the world, leaving the isolated BB contestants uninfected in their TV set stronghold. It actually looks a lot like another Brit end of times story, Survivors, but, you know, with reanimated cannibalistic corpses roaming the land. It also has a strong connection to that touchstone of all things zombie, Romero's Dawn of the Dead, not just in the underlying commentary about the shallowness of society, but in the simpler, claustrophobic setting. When in doubt, giving your characters nowhere to run always works in horror.And that tact is particularly effective in traditional zombie stories where the terror from the slow moving killers comes from their overwhelming numbers. You can outrun the shuffling dead, but you can't run through them.

Yet Dead Set's dead set are new school sprinters, essentially negating that logic, so why is it getting a pass? Calm down, I'll tell you. Brooker has said that he only made his zombies fast-moving because he needed the outbreak to spread quickly so the BB contestants wouldn't have time to know what was coming. While I don't think compromising to fill in a plot hole is good practice, it works here because he remains true to the other tenants of Zombiedom.

This is good stuff and the final half hour is some of the best zombie action I've ever seen.

Playlist: Cropsey

Jasper Cropsey was a 19th century Staten Island resident who became well known for his Hudson Valley School paintings. The name Cropsey also is a name of an avenue in Brooklyn, New York that I lived near for years. Apparently, it is also the Name of a New York urban legend that says a crazed man who has a hook or knife for a hand kidnaps little children and kills them in the woods in many New England and Mid-Atlantic states. This documentary is about the Cropsey legend that apparently the directors of this film were aware of as they grew up in Staten Island. The director and producer are about my age and I have never heard of this legend...maybe other Staten Islanders can let us know if they have heard of this legend.

The doc goes on to tell of the link between the Cropsey legend, The Willowbrook State School for mentally handicapped kids, the Geraldo Rivera expose in 1972 that exposed the Willowbrook atrocities, the Greenbelt forest, the disappearance of many missing kids in Staten Island including the Jennifer Sweigart case (which I do remember from 1987), and a man who many believe to be Cropsey, but they never come out and say it. The doc is very loose and vague at times...it made me interested again in my old hometown, it also reminded me why I wanted out of there...the garbage, the dumps, the bad accents...etc.

The directors show the old Willowbrook (where I used to play soccer all the time and had field day once)...and to think, the doc exposes the fact that dead kid bodies were found throughout, including Jennifer Sweigart. Let us know if you have heard of Cropsey.

Poll Results

In what can only be described as a shocker (due to deadline, not vocabulary, constraints...parentheticals, as you know, are outside the space-time continuum) Kate Winslet is the People's Choice to be the first actor, excuse me, actress to be Distilled. Not only is this a landmark victory for women everywhere, but it should be quite an interesting discussion considering Vinny Guns has gone on the record numerous times as saying he doesn't like actresses. Eh, oh, don't get me wrong, he likes actresses. He is Vinny Guns, after all. The Italian Stallion. The Big Capicola. The Human Vesuvius.

Then again, maybe this is a misogynistic referendum. I wouldn't wish my worst enemy into The Distillery. That's not true. I hate my worst enemy. That's a stupid expression. Anyway, I have confidence in our gal, Kate. And I am CPR-trained in case mouth-to-mouth is required.

Breaking News

Vinny Guns has informed SMC that he has watched 28 Days Later... and enjoyed it.

Danny Boyle could not be reached for comment, but there's no doubt he will bloody well pleased to move out of the Distillery basement.

Lifetime Movies: 2001

Getting to this year has certainly become an odyssey. Not that it didn't have enough to contend with already. You know, a certain aviation mishap in September. That's the one. And since all of this year's films were either in production or in the can when it all went down, this year is also the end of an era. Everything from here on out has to be viewed through soot-colored glasses.

Movie-wise, there was a lot to like (or at least a lot that I liked). A Beautiful Mind won the Oscar, and while it was good, I would have went with Moulin Rouge which I thought was a more daring, imaginative achievement. I'm not a big fan of traditional musicals, which I think made me enjoy this that much more.

Speaking of creative visions, Amelie gave us a beaucoup serving of charming French quirk, not to mention Audrey Tautou. Not to be outdone, we got two very good films from Mexico--Alfonso Cuaron's Y tu mama tambien and Guillermo Del Toro's The Devil's Backbone--that brought that country to the artistic forefront of the new decade.

Some really good small movies like Donnie Darko and Ghost World; a small movie director getting big in Wes Anderson's The Royal Tennenbaums; and a small movie director getting huge in Steven Soderburgh's incredibly cool and fun Ocean's Eleven.

But if 2001 is remembered for anything (again, movie-wise), it's that it kicked off two hugely successful book adaptations. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (hey, it wasn't called Philosopher's Stone where I saw it) actually lived up to fans' seemingly impossibly high expectations. And it was directed by mainstream what'sanotherwordforhack Chris Columbus no less. The whole series has been a spectacular success, particularly the consistency of look, tone, and quality. Which raises the question of how to handle a finite series such as this on a countdown such as this. It's hard to view each of the installments as a separate movie, so do I honor it here, later when it's more convenient, or at the end (2011)? I really am struggling with this one.

Ok, you got me. While I did like Harry Potter, my real dilemma is with a certain other epic, Peter Jackson's The Fellowship of the Ring. The Lord of the Rings trilogy as a whole is by far the cinematic gold medalist of the decade. But how to judge the individual films? I think one of the things I'm hesitant about is picking LotR for three different years. The truth is there wasn't a bigger or better film in any of the years in question. So, this is just me wanting to mix it up a little and continue my lifelong mission to promote diversity in all walks of life and all human endeavors. We'll give it '01 and then retire its number.

Winner: The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

But, wait, what about David Lynch's Mulholland Drive? This may well be the best movie of the year especially since it has topped several critics' Best of the Decade lists. I don't know. I'm sure Vinny Guns will let me know, but I think I need to revisit all of Lynch's films. I remember the film losing its way toward the end, but the first half (which was originally conceived as a TV pilot) was fascinating. Plus, it gave us Naomi Watts. But for now I'm sticking with the hobbits.

Playlist: Lethal Weapon 5

It's been 12 years since the last entry in this film series, the original of which became the template for every buddy cop movie since. Not only have the stars gotten that much older in the past decade plus (Danny Glover is apparently still alive), but Mel Gibson has gone completely train wreck nuts. So the only hope fans had for a sequel at this point rested on some precision recasting of these popular and recognizable characters. Fortunately, that's just what they got.

In an artistic move perhaps not seen since the hey day of Ed Wood, the directors of LW5 decided the best way to fill Danny and Mel's shoes was with four pairs of feet. Not four actors, but two trading roles mid-film. That's right, Detectives Murtaugh and Riggs were given new life by Dennis Reynolds and Mac (who I should also mention co-directed the movie). The result was actually a film within a film. Aside from the explosive action we have come to expect from this series, we were treated to a thespianic clinic. Mac and Reynolds gave us completely different and original takes on the two characters, essentially treating the audience to four unique characters to enjoy. (As for some of the pre-release concern over Mac's choice to don blackface, I can only say an NAACP Image Award for the courageous actor wouldn't surprise me at all.)

All that plus a bravado villain turn by Frank Reynolds (apparently no relation to Dennis). His corrupt Indian tribal leader made me want to put on a badge just to bring him down. But the proof of his acting prowess came in the way this despicable man was able to flip our feelings on their head and seduce us with his five-alarm love scene. I had to take a cold shower before I could even think about writing this post.

What's left to say other than I can't wait for 6.

Distillery: Danny Boyle

Film	Year	Vin	Frank
Shallow Grave	1994	x	+
Trainspotting	1996	+	+
A Life Less Ordinary	1997	x	-
The Beach	2000	x	-
28 Days Later...	2002	+	+
Millions	2004	x	+
Sunshine	2007	+	+
Slumdog Millionaire	2008	+	+
127 Hours	2010	x	x
FINAL DISTILLATION		44%	67%

Key: + = Film Liked; - = Film Not Liked; x = Film Not Seen

Distillery: David Fincher

Film	Year	Vin	Frank
Alien3	1992	-	-
Se7en	1995	+	+
The Game	1997	+	+
Fight Club	1999	+	-
Panic Room	2002	+	+
Zodiac	2007	+	+
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button	2008	+	-
The Social Network	2010	+	+
FINAL DISTILLATION		88%	63%

Key: + = Film Liked; - = Film Not Liked; x = Film Not Seen

Playlist: Quick

Sorry I haven't reported in recently. I saw "Brooklyn's Finest" This weekend...which featured a great opening scene with a great acting duo of Vincent D'Onofrio and Ethan Hawke...remember they were great in "Staten Island"...The film also features other great actors and at least 3 "Wire" folks...I thought it as a real good cop film...Ethan Hawke and Richard Gere were real good

The second flick was " Wreckmeisters Harmonies"...I cant remember why I got this...its an Hungarian film by director Bella Tara...composed of 2 Hours and 19 minutes he only has 39 shots, so the average shot length is like 8 minutes...its a tough film...but very philosophical...and thought provoking about a stuffed Whale, Circus and the problems a "prince" creates in this small town...Wreckmeisters was a musical theorist who surmised that music is controlled chaos made by God...similar to Pi I guess...but very European...I think it was an interview I read by Van Sant, Lynch or Ebert that got me to watch it

Smokin' Cracked

When I was but a wee lad I would accompany me dad to the corner shop on Saturday morns. Well, I went with my dad to the store, but didn't it sound so much more charming the first way? While I'm not sure if "accompany" is the proper verb choice for the imagery, or "morns" the correct colloquial pluralization (I'm quite certain they do celebrate "Saturday" across the pond, though), I can only wonder how different my adulthood would have developed if I had been raised in such an idyllic setting. Would I now be an Exchequer? A Beefeater? David Beckham? A proper gentleman, at the least, and not the...the...American that I turned out to be. Alas, lass.

So, when I was a kid I went with my dad to the store on Saturday mornings. He worked a lot, so this was one of the small windows of time we had together. Naturally, I used this as a chance to get stuff. While he would buy his Italian newspaper and cigarettes (hmm, perhaps I actually did miss a chance to be Europeanized), I would tack on a little something for myself: baseball cards, baseball stickers, or a magazine. Usually, it was a wrestling magazine, and preferably Pro Wrestling Illustrated, which looking back was a pretty terrific read. But sometimes I'd switch gears and go for the funny and of course that meant Mad. How big was Mad? Big enough that there was another magazine that was exactly the same. Well, except for not being as good. And the title: Cracked.

Basically, you bought Cracked if they didn't have Mad. And while it was an inferior product, obvious even to my less than discerning juvenile tastes, it still did the job. That job being to entertain me. Flash forward a few years (or decades if you want to be cruel) and older, more mature me came across an interesting site while mindlessly surfing the Web in what passes for entertainment in this dystopian present. That site: Cracked. And for my money it is one of the best ways to kill time online for free.

How's this for a brilliant, outside-of-the-box game plan: they replaced their terribly outdated general audience pop culture parodies with clever and incredibly well-researched articles that not only make you laugh, but--in all seriousness--make you think. Ok, before I scare you back to Farmville, by articles I mean lists--lists!--that look at fun things like movies and music and ninjas from a different angle. For example, and also as a treat for those of you who hung around while I finally got to the point of this post, they recently ran "The Five Most Wildly Illegal Court Rulings in Movie History." 

I should warn you, or warned you if you already clicked on the above link, that the article might skew your take on some favorite movies. It's hard to un-know something, especially something that hits your hindsight square between the eyes. Keep in mind that these aren't some nit-picky legal technicalities. These are examples of glaring ridiculousness. So, how did we miss them?

Well, that's easy. It's called poetic licence and as much as we like to think we're so smart, we have no problem smudging logic if it, that's right, entertains us. Don't interrupt a good story with killjoy facts. Now, if the movie's crap to begin with, then the filmmaker has waived his immunity. If Independence Day was written as well as, say, Aliens, we would have been too lost in the story to care that Goldblum hacked an intergalactic spaceship with a PowerBook (also covered by Cracked). It wasn't. It sucked. But how do these 5 movies pass the test:

The Untouchables: We all wanted Al Capone to go down and not with the historical accuracy of a tax evasion verdict, but with a bravura to match the monster of DeNiro's performance.

Primal Fear: Even more than a good story, who wants common sense to get in the way of a good twist ending. And this is one of the best. What happened to Ed Norton? Oh, right.

A Time to Kill: I admit, I got caught up in McConaughey's closing argument (or maybe it was his dreamy eyes. Or his gigantic head). It's just cheap emotion, a Joel Schumacher specialty, but it works when it works.

12 Angry Men: Since this is regarded as a classic, you probably just assumed there wouldn't be so many ludicrous plot holes. Thank god for great acting.

Miracle on 34th Street: This is one of those movies I must have seen, but I can't tell if I have or if I just know it from all the references and clips over the years. Explanation for this one? People really like Santa Claus. Ho, ho, boom!

And what about Mad's web presence? See for yourself. They're still clinging to their print edition. Score one for Sylvester P. Smythe.

Mumblecore Wrap Party

 You know that thin line between keeping it real and really pretentious? Apparently, Joe Swanberg decided to cut that line out of the already low budget for his 2009 film, Alexander the Last. It's about an actress and her sister and her husband and the the guy she's doing a play with and, well, I think that's about it. Relationships? I'll let EW's Owen Gleiberman explain: "...an exploration of how the spaces between people can separate them or join them, often at the same moment." That, folks, is a movie critic.

It's pretty clear that for these small films about people just being people, the people will ultimately determine success. The movies that work for me are the ones featuring charismatic leads--Mark Duplass, Greta Gerwig, even non-actress Kate Dollenmayer. Not everyone in real life is interesting. In fact, most people are not, at least not to others. For the viewer to care about mundane subject matter--the whole point here, right--the characters have to be more than that. They have to be interesting. It's like the old line that you would pay to hear Christopher Walken, Al Pacino, etc. read the phone book. No you wouldn't. At least not past Adams. But you do like them, though, and want to spend time with them. The characters in Alexander? I didn't even want to spend the ridiculously short 72 minutes with them. It's more masturbatory artists making films about artists. Forget about the pretentiousness factor. That sounds more like simple laziness.

There are still some mumblecore films on my playlist. I'd like to see Swanberg's Kissing on the Mouth, and not just because it's dirty. His LOL is supposed to be another genre staple. I've also heard good things about Alex Holdridge's In Search of a Midnight Kiss. But of the ones I have watched, here's how I'd stack them:

1. Hump Day
2. The Puffy Chair
3. Cyrus
4. Baghead
5. Hannah Takes the Stairs
6. Funny Ha Ha
7. Beeswax
8. Nights and Weekends
9. Mutual Appreciation
10. Alexander the Great

Question for those who saw it: does Greenberg count?

First Take: The Walking Dead

As expected, Frank Darabont brought his big screen A game with him and delivered a very cinematic opening chapter to this eagerly-awaited new series. As with all series premieres, it was all about set-up: introducing characters, laying out the story, and establishing tone. This hit on all counts all while sticking to the engrossing script of the source material. It does look like they will be straying from Robert Kirkman's comic series in the coming weeks, but since Darabont is on board as executive producer, I think we should have faith in his choice of direction.

The other big question mark with any new show is our first impression of the lead actors. Andrew Lincoln, another one of those covert Brits, looks like he can carry the weight of the hero, Rick Grimes. It's too early to tell about anyone else since this was pretty much Rick's show, but I liked actress Sarah Wayne Callies (Rick's wife Lori) on Prison Break which, if you saw Prison Break, you know says a lot.

And the zombies? Pretty good. Actually, the FX are very impressive so far.