IUT English Series

Malcolm in the Middle

2009-11-11T04:48:00.000-08:00

Laurent presented us Malcolm in the Middle. The series deals with a guy, Malcolm, who is gifted, living in a gifted family. Every member has a different gift (music, maths...). So in this series we follow Malcolm in his everyday life.

On my opinion, Malcolm in the Middle is the kind of series you have to watch to relax one episod by time. It is laughing, it does not take itself seriously but the interest of the series is limited : no suspense (of course), no real work on the evolution of the characters. So it is easy to be fed up with Malcolm...

Characters have a worked psychology and I think it is a good point for the series and its strength.

To conclude it can be said Malcolm in the Middle is the series of your tea party : laughing, nothing complicated.

My Mark :

Realisation : 4/5, good
Interest : 2/5, depends on what you are looking for
Actors : 2/5, beginners
Soundtrack 3/5, easy listenning

11/20

Chuck

2009-11-11T04:34:00.000-08:00

Corentin presented us Chuck. The series deals with a geek who receives an e-mail in which there are all the information of the CIA a man stole. When Chuck opens the e-mail, all the information are recorded in his mind by a weird procedure and the e-mail is automatically deleted. So Chuck who had an oridinary and boring life becomes THE MAN who has all the secrets and the secret services use him.

On my opinion, Chuck is a good and light series, easy watching which is smoothing. Chuck is not THE series but a good one that will make you addicted the time you finish a season. During an episod you will laugh but there is no suspense. You can easily pass through one or two episod and continue the series.

To conclude it can be said Chuck is light series which does not take itself seriously.

My Mark :

Realisation : 3/5 good special effects

Interest : 4/5, easy watching

Actors : 3/5, nice playing

Soundtrack : 3/5, good

13/20

Friends

2009-10-20T13:57:00.000-07:00

Willy and Florent showed us the series Friends. The series is a comedy which deals with a group of friends, their lives and their relations.
Everyone knows the series but it is always substantial to see it again. Even if we have seen it ten or fifteen times, we do not get burn on watching it !
Rachel is always pretty, Joey stupid, Chandler humourous and Phoebe strange...

Good time, not taking your head, Friends is a good way to relax...

We grow up with this series and even if it is finished (and the last episods are really bad...) it continues by watching it again and again.

My Mark (it is really difficult...) :

Realisation : 3/5, basic

Interest : 5/5, nostalgy

Actors : 5/5, familiar

Soundtrack : 5/5, dancing, everyone knows

18/20 (02/20 for the last episodes)

Pushing Daisies

2009-10-20T13:27:00.000-07:00

Ophélie and Benjamin presented to us the series Pushing Daisies. The series is a comedy and deals with Ned, a guy who has a gift : when he touches a dead body, the person 'relives' and if he retouches the person, the person dies. And if after one minute Ned does not touch the person, another one will randomly die around.
In my opinion (and it does not seem to be a shared opinion...) Pushing Daisies is a good series : its wild type side is excellent !
The series is funny but if I have an advise (it is the same as Two and a Half Men) : watch one episod by time !
The wild type is really the heart of the series and is worked hard : characters, sets, stories, all turns around it. Some scenes make us think about disney's scenes (the princess singing about her waiting for the charming prince).
Bad point : with the first episod, we could think about a continuity in the scenario ("but ketchy !" like would have said my friend Loic) but every episod is singular and you can see it in disorder without problem (like in a little comedy).
To conclude, it can be said Pushing Daisies is not a revolution but just a good time spending with laughing and sleeping.

My Mark :

Realisation : 4/5, original, singular
Interest : 3/5, series is not necessary but you spend a good time
Actors : 3/5, funny
Soundtrack : 2/5, good but do not stay in mind

12/20

The Lost Room

2009-10-20T12:24:00.000-07:00

Williams presented to us the series The Lost Room. This series is a science-fiction and deals with Joe Miller, a detective, who will live an adventure by 'meeting' and using objects which have magical properties (for example can arrest time ...).

When you read the synopsis you think it is ridiculous and YOU ARE WRONG. The Lost Room is an excellent series and when the williams showed us only two episods (1/3 of the series) I told myself : "MORE, I WANT MORE !". It becomes a drug (but it is a short addiction). Indeed there is only six episods ! One the one hand it is a good thing because you know every episod has a signification and is useful but in the other hand when you see the end... sorry I can't tell... in short, you want more (the end is good don't be scared)!

What is funny is the fact you inevitably have a delirious about the objects either with friends or with yourself.

You will never feel bored, there are too many reboundings !

ENJOY !

My Mark :

Realisation : 5/5, a success
Interest : 4/5, not 5 because of the magical side
Actors : 5/5, very good
Soundtrack : 4/5, stay in mind

18/20

Two and a Half Men

2009-10-20T12:05:00.000-07:00

Guillaume Castano (our mascot) and Mathieu presented to us the series Two and a Half Men. This series is a comedy and deals with Charly Harper, a musician living in a beautiful house next to the beach, who accomodates his brother, Alan, after his divorce and Alan's son, Jake, a week-end on two.

By watching Two and a Half Men, you will spend a good moment. But I advise you to see just a few episods by time because too many episods can make you feel boring.

The series is laughing but not out loud (LoL !), so don't be surprise if you ear the false public applausing while you are not feeling anything...

My Mark :

Realisation : 3/5, nothing special

Interest : 3/5, funny

Actors : 3/5, good but it is not difficult

Soundtrack : 3/5, nothing special

12/20

Lost

2009-10-20T11:33:00.000-07:00

Paslcal and Thomas presented us the series Lost. This series deals with people lost on an island after the crash of their plane. This island seems to be itself lost and some mysterious things happens...

Lost is exactly the kind of series that I hate : a bad recipe that never finishes. Scenarists don't know where they go and they progressively invent the story. There are too many seasons, it is too complicated : scenarists create fact that they think they maybe will use in future episods.

The series is boring, characters are just stereotypes (the good, the bad and the weird...). I will not recommend this series even if I don't like the person I'd advise...

Even if you have time to lost, don't use it for lost !

(Pascale, Thomas : No offense)

My Mark :

Realisation : 1/5, happily singular

Interest : 0/5, nothing

Actors : 0/5, really bad

Soundtrack : 2/5, too hided by series' bad points

3/20 (and I am generous)

Six Feet Under

2009-10-20T11:13:00.000-07:00

Six Feet under is an ended series (2001 – 2005) composed of 5 seasons and 63 episodes. The series, created and produced by Alan Ball, turns around the Fisher family, funeral home owners in Los Angeles. The series' main theme, composed by Thomas Newman, won different awards (Emmy award for Outstanding Main Title Theme Music and Grammy awards for Best Instrumental Composition and Best Instrumental Arrangement for title theme). Each episode of Six Feet Under begins with a death and it becomes a game to find who’ll die. Six Feet Under received many awards but is also a contentious series because of the sexuality shown and its sinister side (drugs and deaths).

Characters :

Nathaniel Samuel Fisher, Sr. (1943–2000), played by Richard Jerkins, is the owner of Fisher & Sons Funeral Home until his death on Christmas Eve, 2000. Distant husband and father, his family did not really know Nathaniel and we only see him through their vision.

Nathaniel Samuel "Nate" Fisher, Jr. (1965–2005), played by Peter Krause, is the oldest Fisher son. He left home when he was 15, comes back for Christmas and stays because of his father’s death. Nate becomes a funeral director and co-operates the business with his brother David.

David James Fisher (1969–2044), played by Michael C. Hall, is the middle child of the Fisher family and a co-operator of Fisher & Sons Funeral Home (which becomes Fisher and Diaz Funeral Home). David is gay (maybe it is the first name) and his boyfriend at the beginning of the series, Keith, is a black policeman. He does not really assume its homosexuality and that arise problems with Keith in the first season.97 At the beginning David holds it against Nate because he left home and its responsibilities when he was young. As a good catholic, David was given a place as a deacon at church.

Claire Simone Fisher (1983–2085), played by Lauren Ambrose, is a rebellious young adult and falls into drugs. At the beginning of the series she studies in High school where she is seen as a strange and morbid girl. But as she is creative, Claire finally studies at the LAC-Arts College in which she could enter thanks to Billy, Brenda’s brother, a famous photographer.

Ruth O'Connor Fisher (1946–2025), played by Frances Conroy, is the widow of Nathaniel and mother of three. Ruth tends to hide her emotions and assume the subordinate role of a good houssewife. After the death of his husband she is relieved of her responsibilities and she lives a more free life. She has strained relations with her own children most of the time

Brenda Chenowith (1969–2051), played by Rachel Griffiths, enters the series when she has sex with Nate at the airport. When the series starts, Brenda runs a shiatsu massage service out of her house and afterwards studies psychology. Brenda's family life is dysfunctional in the extreme: her parents, both psychiatrists, are libertines and she spends much of her life care-taking for Billy her brother who is a famous photographer affected by bipolar disorder. At the age of six she was declared a genius and placed in the care of Dr Gareth Feinberg and various psychologists who began documenting her odd behavior. She became the subject of a best-selling book titled, "Charlotte Light and Dark."

Hector Federico Diaz (1974–2049), played by Freddy Rodriguez, start at Fisher & Sons shortly after the death of his father, Mauricio Ricardo Diaz. As an extremely skilled restorative artist, Federico becomes a partner in Fisher & Sons which becomes Fisher & Diaz. Rico married his high school sweetheart, Vanessa (played by Justina Machado) who works as a nurse and sends many families to Fisher & Sons. They have two children : Julio and Augusto.

Keith Charles (1968–2029), played by Mathew St. Patrick, is the black boyfriend of David. In the beginning of the series he is a cop with great sense of responsibilities. After a brutally beating a suspect he is fired and he reconverts himself in private security. All along the series he has a very complicated in and out relation with David.

Opinion :

In my opinion SFU is a great series : good sense of humour, very original. I understand the polemics but I think the fact there is one is a sign of the interest of the series.

The first season is not the best and the begining can reject more than one. But after few episods you will be surpressed by the fact that you are dancing on the opening and you are attached to the characters.

Character's psychology is really worked hard and everyone has an evolution that you can follow through the episods (for example Brenda changes a lot from he first season to the second one).

The soundtrack is very good and that arrived I was looking for some of the tracks broadcasted in episods.

The fact SFU is a dead series is a good point for it : you know there is an ending and scenarists know where are going to.

My Mark :

Realisation : 4/5, very good

Interest : 5/5, singular

Actors : 5/5, really convencing, good psychology

Soundtrack : 4/5, dancing

18/20

The Big Bang Theory

2009-10-04T01:38:00.000-07:00

A(b)del and Jerome presented us the series The Big Bang Theory created by Chuck Lorre (Two and a half men) and Bill Prady. Tbbt is a comedy which deals with scientifics and their way to see the world and live their lives. The series begin with the coming of a new neighbour for Sheldon and Leonard two researchers at the MIT. But this new neighbour is going to change radically their quotidian because she is a pretty young blond girl and when Leonard sees her his first thought is "I want her".

The series is really funny and my favorite character, Sheldon, (no Guillaume Alga, I'm not like him !), is hilarious. At this moment the third season is coming and it shows us a changing (but I don't want to spoil...).

Tbbt is one of my favorite series (one among a lot) and the most hilarious of them. The actors are really good and play their role with talent (Wolowitz is one of the bests).

I put the opening theme as a video for my posting because I think it is a success : after a few episodes you will dance on it !

The series is original (which other series shows you a guy that wants to make an algorithm to make friends ?), funny and all the people I advised to see tbbt came to me and thanked me.

There is just one thing that could be dispointing : it is a little repetitive and the characters don't really have an evolution as one goes along the series.

My Mark :

Realisation : 3/5 nothing spectacular
Interest : 4/5 original
Actors : 4/5 really good
Soundtrack : 4/5 dancing

15/20

Stargate SG1

2009-09-25T09:21:00.000-07:00

David and Kevin presented us Stargate SG1 a series of science fiction based on a film realised by Dean Develin and Roland Emmerich.

With the presentation I understood rapidly the series is complex and there is kind of a world all around it. I think the series could be interesting but it needs a huge devotion... The series makes me think about Frank Herbert's Dune with its complexity and its world.

The special effects are good even the first episodes ones : beautifull plans with synthesis images for a good rendered.

Nevertheless, the actors are not necessarily convincing and I think strange finding Mac Gyver (Richard Dean Anderson) killing aliens with a beam. And the episodes are tiring and repetitive : for example realisators insist too much with the comical repetition in the episode of time traveling (which forgets all the paradoxes of time traveling as dying during the trip or the problem of memory during it).

My Mark

Realisation 3/5 good

Interest 3/5 there is a world around the series

Actors 1.5/5 Mac Gyver against aliens...

Soundtrack 2/5 not pointing-up

9.5/20

The A Team

2009-09-25T08:42:00.000-07:00

Robin and Romain presented us the series the A Team. What a nostalgia ! During my childhood I loved this series and I was really impatient to see an episode !

WHAT A DISAPPOINTMENT ! I was so naive... Scenarios are so wobbly : in one of the episode the A team save an unknown man and there is only one retort which explains all so don't miss it ! And it is always the same : action, action, action. They have infinite bullets and they go through them without any hurt.

And in each episode they make a fabrication (like Mac Gyver but it is worst) and the A Team challenge physics' law : they manage to make a plane with scotch-tape and cardboard.

The special effects are pathetic : I remember a scene in one of the episodes in which a jeep does a somersault and we can clearly see a dummy in the driver postion. And finally we find a groggy driver who goes out of the car.

Fortunately there is the opening theme (sung with talent by Romain) ! And the nostalgia is here even if there are all these bad points.

My Mark

Realisation 1/5 pathetic special effects
Interest 3/5 nostalgia...
Actors 1/5 really bad !
Soundtrack 4/5 very good opening them

9/20

Scrubs

2009-09-16T03:06:00.000-07:00

Last Monday Sahra and Julian present us the series Scrubs. I knew the series only through them and I had never seen an episode. Scrubs is a wild type series which deals with the hospital world. It shows us a group of interns (at the beginning) with their lifes but the fact is Scrubs is not like Dr. House or Grey's Anatomy because its humour is everywhere : there are many situations where characters are imagining crazy scenes for example when JD (Zach Braff) plays tick tack toe with death.

Each episode is short (arount 25 minutes) so Julian and Sahra has shown us three of them from different seasons (1x04, 2x02, 5x05) so that we can see the evolution of the characters who become doctors at the fourth season. The actors are good players even if sometimes they are flat.

The soundtrack is difficult to evaluate because there is no one strictly speaking, the songs already existed so realisators just bought them from bands. But I think their choice is good.

To conclude it can be said the series is laughing but the fact is an overdose is rapidly here : always the same type of jocking no revolution in the series. To appreciate watch it one episode at a time.

My Mark

Realisation 3/5 good
Interest 2/5 original but sometimes too flat
Actors 3/5 good players
Soundtrack 3/5 good choice

11/20

The X Files

2009-09-15T04:46:00.000-07:00

Last Monday Loic and Edouard present us the series X Files. I knew the series but they showed us a quaint episode in black and white where the paranormal side is cancelled out. Indeed this episode is more a metaphore and deals with human's monster side. It asks the question "finally who is the monster ?".

The episode begins with X Files' right way : a dark atmosphere, a scene which looks like paranormal with a monster who assaults a woman. She writes a letter to Mulder (David Duchovny) and he comes with Scully (Gillian Anderson) to unsolve this case.

The episode transcribes the Frankenstein legend and makes reference to The Elephant Man with its music and its atmosphere. The soundtrack is excellent and makes a scary surroundings with its loud and childish tunes. The morality could be found basic and the happy ending too moralistic but I think that we have to go deeper and take that as kind of a parody and a wink of an eye.

Nevertheless the special effets are not fabulous even if it is not a recent episode and the actors are not always convincing.

My Mark

Realisation 3/5 good despite basic special effects

Interest 4/5 original episode with winks of eyes

Actors 3/5 not always persuasive

Soundtrack 4/5 excellent

14/20

The Tudors

2009-09-12T08:40:00.000-07:00

On Monday 7th my class and I watched two episodes of the Tudors a historic series about the reign of Henry VIII, King of England (1491-1547). The series deals with our history and its different players melting politics with love.

The first episode we have seen is the second one of the serie. It deals with the meeting between the King and Ann Boleyn's sister in France where Henry VIII has come to sign a treaty of perpetual peace. This episode is a bit long (50 minutes) even if we can enjoy the victory of our King François 1st at wrestling against King Henry VIII. There is no action, lot of politics and it is difficult to recognize all the people. Nevertheless the actors are really good : Jonathan Rhy-Meyers as King Henry VIII is a famous and talented actor who worked with Woody Allen (Match Point) and Oliver Stone (Alexander).
On the historic plan ( I am not a specialist) but it seems to be mitigated according some : "The Tudors, now in the early stages of its second season on Showtime, is a deliberately a historical depiction of Henry VIII’s “reign and marriages.” ", David Sessions the editor of Patrol. I knew the history of Henry VIII because we watched last year a movie about him (Henry VIII by Pete Travis). So I knew Ann Boleyn would be beheaded.

Then we watched another episode : THE ONE about Ann Boleyn's death. Verdict : On the one hand this episode is bloody and gory when the Anne Boleyn's various alleged lovers are tortured but on the other hand it is too bloody reserved with Ann's death : indeed my class and I were waiting for it throughout the episode and it is only at the bitter-end that we could see a pathetic and pitiful death realistically speaking. The instant of death is a close-up of Ann Boleyn's head and the camera turns in order to try to give the impression of a falling head. That scene is just a FAILURE !

To conclude it can be said the first season of The Tudors is not just a succession of sex and politics. Admittedly the series present a pitiful and childlike King and the love of Kid Henry VIII and Ann Boleyn (played by Natalie Dormer) is not really pretty but maybe the historical side can be appreciated by the specialist. Last but not least the soundrack is excellent Trevor Morris rises to the sides of Hans Zimmer and Ennio Morricone with these titles.

My Mark
Realisation : 2/5 too many overlong passages and Ann Boleyn's death is pathetic
Interest : 3.5/5 original
Actors : 4/5 Sam Neill and Jonathan Rhy-Meyers are really good
Soundtrack : 4/5 a big performance

13.5/20

Expressions and phrases that I'd like to remember

2009-09-12T08:36:00.000-07:00

strumpet : pute (The Tudors)
don't what me : change de ton (The X Files)
smush his face : pète lui la gueule (Scrubs)
to duck : plonger pour se cacher (Scrubs)
If I would've, I could've : si j'avais pu, je l'aurais fait (Tbbt)
Penny's thoughts : tu penses à Penny (Tbbt)