The Week in Entertainment

DVD: A couple of Marvel movies - Dr. Strange and Iron Man. I didn't read Iron Man as a kid, but he was Marvel - and where and when I grew up you read either Marvel or DC . Not both. So I was familiar with him, even if he wasn't one of my favorites. (X-Men (the first time around, Beast and Angel and Marvel Girl...) and Fantastic Four and Spiderman and Thor and Hulk...) They're not at all bad. Nicely animated and good, solid stories with trademark Stan Lee depth of characters. Also the first of four Russian tv-miniseries (is that how to say it? I mean there are four separate miniseries in a sort of mega-series) Бухта Филиппа (Philip's Bay) starring Константин Хабенский (Konstantin Khabensky). It's what they call a детектив (detektiv), in this case a reluctant ex-lawyer turned boat repairman who has to prove his employee/friend didn't commit murder. His surname is Ронин (Ronin) - one of the underworld figures who aids him in discovering the real murder (a rival) calls him "samurai", which is cute. It's pretty good. Unfortunately, the version I have seems to be the only one available, and there are no subtitles at all, so if you don't understand Russian, you'll be lost.

TV: Heroes - so nice to see Nathan alive, if miserable, and Peter alive, if amnesiac. And Hiro - he has got his work cut out for him, doesn't he? But waaaaaaah! They killed George Takei! House - could that camera work have been any more annoyingly obtrusive? I mean, really. When you keep noticing the "arty" angles and shots in mirrors, you're not watching the story. I'm not at all sure I'm going to like this hunt for the new team ... especially since the old one is still there in the credits. Unless they're going to expand this cast from six to nine, the new Cottages will either never be hired or have nothing to do. I fear this will be this season's obnoxious and unbelievable six-episode arc-to-ignore. But we'll see. Dr Who - I forgot to mention last week (I was so caught up in the Captain Jack story) how wonderful it was to see Derek Jacobi as the Master. And I guess now we know what's up with Saxon and why he tried to warn Martha away from the Doctor... As for this week's episode, argh, poor Jack. He's just the right play-toy for a sadistic monster, but maybe the Doctor will get a break to fix himself up. He's got to lose those extra years - I've see the promos for next year! (And I know there's a second season of Torchwood.) Martha ... she's the one I'm worried about. She's not back in the next season of Dr Who... Surely she'll come through, but ... who knows? Still, I think I'm going to keep betting on her deciding she just can't do it any more; Rose wins. Next week can't come soon enough. Torchwood - I like the way the continuity keeps up - Canary Wharf and the Cybermen. I wonder if Ianto will be different next week, or their relationship with him? It's somewhat an episodic show, but something this important - I hope they don't drop it. ... And one sour note. My DVR - despite having assured me that yes, the program was indeed scheduled for recording, did not actually record the first ep of the new season of Stargate Atlantis. So I'll have to hunt it down somewhere. Grrr.

Read: The Gun in Daniel Webster's Bust - a light comic mystery from 1949 - and its sequel, The Green Plaid Pants. Picked up a collection of things by Rustam Ibragimbekov - some which have been turned into films and some which haven't (yet) - called Utomlyonnye solntsem (Утомлённые солнцем / Burnt by the Sun) . The films owe a great deal to Mikhalkov, of course, but I'm curious how the stories work on their own.