Okay, so this isn't an entry about a movie, but rather the new, re-imagined Bionic Woman television series. I was a big, albeit small at the time, fan of the original Bionic Woman. I loved it because it was inspiring to watch a woman kick ass. I loved Charlie's Angels, Wonder Woman, and Electra Woman and Dyna Girl all for the same reason. But this new version, I'm not so sure about. I did like the fact that there was a nod to how young girls like I was once are inspired by images of women doing amazing things. During the show, Jaimie Sommers (a.k.a. the Bionic Woman) goes racing through the woods as she escapes the secret biotechnology lab in which she was being held captive. A mother and daughter are driving along and the girl sees Jaimie running at incredible speeds. When the little girl tells her mother what she has seen, the mother dismisses it ("Didn't I tell you not to make up stories?" or something stupid like that.) The little girl, rather than feeling bad about being scolded, says, "I never knew a woman could do that." Ha! How many times as a little girl - if you ever were a little girl - did you ever think that?
That one bright moment didn't do much to make me like this new series. The actress who plays Jaimie Sommers was obviously picked because she's pretty and has sparkley eyes. She can't act, or run or fight for that matter, so it had to be her looks. Another bright moment is, of course, the fantastic Katee Sackhoff as the evil bionic woman Sarah Corvis. Hopefully, she will be a regular on the show and serve to complicate Jaimie's loyalties to whatever agency she's just made a deal with at the end of episode one.
The two things that bothered me greatly about this opening episode are: 1. why did they make her pregnant and then lose the baby, 2. why did her boyfriend have to be the one to "save" her? The lost pregnancy probably would have made more sense if she was actually upset about it. She didn't seem too upset about it, but who knows where that plot point will go in the future. Hopefully it will go somewhere. I'm also hoping that the boyfriend dies. They've already setup that the men in this story just think with their little heads (one of the other men at the biotech firm was Sarah's lover). I guess I don't want every episode to be a series of romantic entanglements or conflicts. Especially since the one in this episode was really in poor taste. Jaime and her boyfriend are kissing when she states, "That's not me." He replies, "Yes it is" and they proceed to do it. Ummm, thanks for letting me know that she was concerned about him sticking his dick into a robotic vagina.
In general, more action, more old v. new bionic woman, more "you go, girl!" moments and I'm a new fan. Keep up the kissy faced stuff and I'm never watching this show again.
When I was in London this last spring, Mr. Bean's Holiday and Hot Fuzz were playing in theaters. I really wanted to see Hot Fuzz while I was there, so I resisted the temptation to see Mr. Bean. It was actually a tough decision. Mr. Bean was playing in the theater right in the neighborhood I was staying at, while Hot Fuzz was a tube ride away. It was worth it to see Hot Fuzz before anyone else could here. What I should have done is see them both. My son and I just went to see Mr. Bean's Holiday and I loved it! It was fun and clever. There was a great scene in which Mr. Bean, a kid and a woman are all riding in a car. The women is speaking French, the boy Russion, and Mr. Bean, well, he's not really speaking much. But the boy and the woman carry on this conversation with him as he responds with, "Oui!" Of course the boy and the woman get two completely different meanings out of, "Oui," and Mr. Bean is none the wiser. It was really humorous to watch. Also, the end, where Bean makes his Cannes debut is brilliant.