Quickies

Due to being buried in work and being messed about to the point of insanity with my new degree on top of being a new father I have been a little distracted.
Here are a few quick reviews:

Wonder Woman DC should just plug Bruce Timm into everything they do and wait for world domination. Wonder Woman's main flaw is it is far too short, the end shots really make you wish that you could watch another 45 minutes of top-notch arse-kicking. Nathan Fillion is as charming and funny as usual, Kerri Russell lends the role the blend of naivety and will that is needed and Alfred Molina is simply disturbing.
Wonder Woman continues to be the best character to be waiting for a comic that consistently does her justice, but is immensely interesting in Timm's animated universes.

Castle

Castle continues to be utterly predictable, unimaginative and stupifyingly watchable thanks to Nathan Fillion being Nathan Fillion and his devotees smiling blankly for an hour and chuckling.

Dollhouse
Since the 6th episode (where apparently the Fox executives waved their hands in the air and let Whedon and Co. get on with it) Dollhouse has improved immensely, with the supporting cast becoming much more compelling; twists and turns effecting the story arc with more purpose and a focus on making the audience actually want to watch the next episode.
Dushku is still erratic at times (her confused, doting turn in Man on The Street was plywood when put alongside Patton Oswalt), but she is beginning to form a personality as Echo which will help with audience empathy and she is spending less time attempting to be convincing as a passive victim.
At the current rate of improvement the show should be just about good enough for me to be a bit pissed off when it gets cancelled.

Monsters vs. AliensSlightly amusing at times but mainly uninspired and certainly guilty of criminally wasting some of its cast. One of those films that News of The World critics would describe as "great for the kids!" while the rest of the world remembers that Toy Story happened and films like Monsters vs. Aliens are not good enough any more.
I didn't see the film in 3D but when one of the first shots is of someone playing "Bat-'n-Ball" towards the camera you can imagine how earth-shattering that experience is. The only time I want that old gag used is when the 3D Blazing Saddles is made.
Watch Kung-Fu Panda again instead.

HeroesCouldn't give a toss.


Ultimatum
Marvel realised that other than the always readable Ultimate Spider-Man, their Ultimate universe had gone astray.
Their answer was to have an event (which is their answer for everything lately) which restructured the Ultimate universe. Fair enough, sounds like a good idea.
Then they asked Jeph Loeb to do it.
Not so good an idea.
A fictional universe created by Bendis, Millar and Vaughn being eviscerated by someone who wasn't deemed imaginative enough to write on Heroes this season. His other big contribution recently is a Hulk who, now get this...is RED!
His follow on from Mark Millar's Ultimates series was so bad it was almost a parody.
Ultimatum is the latest example of Loeb's take on writing comics for Marvel: a process that involves writing "shocking" events onto small pieces of card, tying the cards to 30 bones, throwing them into his back garden and then listing whatever his dog shits out the following day. I figure his dog is a Bull-Mastiff as there's a lot of shit making its way into each issue of Ultimatum.
Someone dies, then someone else dies followed by a tragic death. Characters speak about the deaths in odd exposition laden mumbling with the tone of a 60 year old trying to imagine what a teen sounds like. The end.

Garbage.

More to follow when my brain becomes less entwined with my arse.