Skins, Vol. 2 (2009) Review

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(More customer reviews)Well, you all know how things left off at the end of the last series. Tony got hit by a bus, Sid and Cassie met at a bench, Maxxie and Anwar made up and everyone had a nice little singing number (?!).
Now we pick up some months later with a whole series of interesting story lines! We follow Tony on his slow road to recovery (apparently getting slammed into by a bus is not something one gets over right away). We see him and Maxxie getting closer even as Sid and Michelle turn slowly away from Tony. We also get to see Maxxie pick up a stalker, which is all sorts of fun.
Moving on, we have a lovely love triangle developing between Sid, Michelle and Tony (who I've always thought really wanted to have a three-way relationship with Sid and Michelle), Jal and Chris start hooking up (I still think she could do better), Cassie disolves and becomes even more mad than before, and Anwar, well... Anwar starts thinking with the wrong part of his body and does wrong by Maxxie. Even Effie starts to get more attention, which makes sense given her expanded role in series three. All of this builds to an astonishing and rather tear-jerking climax that one doesn't soon forget.
As in the first series, the writting in the second is sharp and intelligent. The actors are all in top form, particularly Nicholas Hoult, who has a real challenge playing a damaged version of Tony (well, more damaged than usual). There's also some incredibly funny dialogue and some great scenes.
I really enjoyed one scene with Maxxie's father and the father of a bully/gay basher, talking with each other. These are men who look like your basic longshoremen, yet neither has a problem with Maxxie being gay. Heck, the father of the bully even says the boy has baked a "remorse cake" and offers Maxxie the cake which says, "Sory" on it. I just about fell out of my chair laughing at that scene, but in addition to comedy one must note the positive message it gives gay youth.
Really, I can't think of any real flaws the show has, aside from the fact that none of the cast save Effie will be returning for series three. I do rather hope there's a few more extras on these DVD's as opposed to those from series one, but I guess we'll have to wait and see.
Anyhow, if you liked series one, buy this! If you haven't seen series one, go buy that and THEN buy this! If you have seen series one, but didn't like it, then... er... why are you even looking at this page? ;) To the rest of you, enjoy!

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It's been six months since Tony's collision with a bus - remarkably, he isn't dead, but he sure isn't the same person. Sid can't get his head around the fact that his best mate is a shadow of the man he's always looked up to. And to top it off he finally got the girl, Cassie, only to have her whisked off to Scotland. Sod's law! Michelle is lost without Tony, too. Maxxie's got hell at home because his Dad doesn't want him to follow his dream of being a dancer. Even Anwar has changed since he bagged himself a secret girlfriend. Jal is throwing off the good girl image and letting her hair down. While party animal Chris is stepping out on his own. And while all around is falling apart, it's Effy who's taking control.
DVD Features:FeaturetteInterviews

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Skins, Vol. 1 (2009) Review

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(More customer reviews)I've been watching TV for as long as I can remember, and I've never seen a show quite like "Skins".
The program centers around a group of teenage friends living in England. They smoke, they drink, they do drugs, they party, they have sex. They do what teenagers around the world do (or more often, especially with the sex part, merely wish they were doing). Pretty standard fare for most teenage dramas, actually, except that since this is British TV, they don't censor everything; you actually get to see bits of the sex, hear lots of the swearing and see quite a bit of naked flesh.
Nothing like a bit of titilation.
But had the show been nothing but titilation, it wouldn't have kept my interest. From the very first episode, I found myself really drawn into the storylines, and coming to like most of the characters. I started to care about them and their lives.
Consider for example the character of Tony. He seems initially to be just a total wanker, but as the show goes you see that he actually has some layers to him, ones he doesn't know are there.
Or consider Anwar, a reasonably devout Muslim who finds himself torn between faith and friendship due to the fact that his best friend, Maxxie, is gay.
Or consider Cassie, an anorexic girl who is falling rapidly in love with Sid, who happens to be in love with Michelle, who happens to be Tony's girlfriend. Who Tony might be in love with the viewer is welcome to guess, though I'm inclined to suspect it's both Michelle and Sid...
Or consider Jal, the sweet young clarinet player. Or Chris, a wonderful young man with more teeth than brain cells. Or Michelle. Or Maxxie. Or Sid. Any of the characters, all the of characters, are fascinating.
The show isn't without its imperfections, of course. It's a bit exaggerated and unrealistic, but who cares? Most TV is. On the other hand, "Skins" is daring, entertaining, effed-up and wonderfully brilliant! What other show would've given such a "WTF?!" ending to the first series as this one did?
"Skins" isn't for everyone, but I loved it, and can't wait to own it on DVD!
*** UPDATE ***
So amazingly I got the DVDs today, the day before the street date. I won't tell if you won't tell. :) Because of this, I can answer all the questions we've been wondering. Well, most of them, anyhow. I don't know if the music was left intact from the broadcasts cause I never really paid attention.Anyhow, the DVDs are not the episodes as they were broadcast here in the USA. They are not censored for language or nudity, which is a plus for those of me who like to see these sorts of things as they were intended!
There is one thing that was completely cut out from the DVDs however. At the end of the last episode of series one, there was this very odd, very surreal moment where the cast, more or less in character, were singing Cat Stevens' song "Wild World". Due to copyright issues that entire scene is cut. You get the moments right before and right after, but the scene itself is gone. Happily that's what the YouTube is for and if you go there, you can see the last scene as it was meant to be.
Sadly there's no commentary on the DVDs, but you do get the video diaries and ancillary storylines the Brits got, so that's all good. Overall, a package well worth getting your hands on!

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Skins. A brand new British drama follows a group of raucous teenagers who get high, get drunk, get laid and get up for their A levels. They really grab life by the balls and give it a twirl. Tony (Nicholas Hoult, About a Boy) is the best looking boy in town. His sidekick Sid is less successful with the ladies, much less until bonkers anorexic case Cassie turns up. But Sid's in love with Michelle, the school fittie, who goes out with Tony, of course. Then there's sassy musician Jal, party animal Chris, Maxie and best mate Anwar, who manages to combine the pills, the thrills and the spills with his faith, well sort of.

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Slumdog Millionaire (2009) Review

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(More customer reviews)Slumdog Millionaire deserves a place among the masterpieces of world cinema. Praise is pouring in for this brilliant film, directed by Danny Boyle from a screenplay by Simon Beaufoy adapted from a novel by Vikas Swarup.
The settings move from the bleakest - the slums outside Mumbai, where our hero, Jamal Malik, lives as a child with his older brother Salim - to high rise vistas and no less than the Taj Mahal. The story ranges from the worst despair and heartbreak to the noblest sacrifice and most romantic love.

We are introduced in the opening moments to the young adult Jamal, played by Dev Patel. He is a contestant on the Indian version of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire and has just answered the ten million rupee question prior to the end of the show. His next question will be worth twenty million rupees, an unimaginable fortune to the average Indian. The arrogant, primping star of the show, played with artificial charm concealing an oily narcissism by Anil Kapoor, cannot stand that young Jamal is stealing some of his spotlight, and believes that the young, uneducated "slumdog" is cheating. (One of the key sequences involves the host "proving" to himself that Jamal MUST be cheating.) Jamal has been handed over to the police, who torture him to make him confess his deception. This moment in Jamal's life frames the rest of the film, told in flashback, and explains the torturous road that allowed Jamal to answer even the most difficult questions.
We are not told about Jamal and Salim's father, but in an early sequence we see their mother murdered in a brutal religion riot as club-wielding Hindu's attack a Muslim slum. Orphaned, Jamal and Salim live in the trash dump at the edge of the slum. They befriend another orphan, the young girl Latika.
The remainder of the film fills in the gaps of the lives of Jamal and Salim and Latika, who call themselves the Three Musketeers, but only got far enough in school before the murder of their mother to learn the names Athos and Porthos. Along the way they encounter police brutality, orphanage directors who make Fagin and Bill Sykes look like Mother Teresa, as well as Indian gangsters and other people-traffickers. Several sequences show us that Salim is becoming hardened by their harsh life, although he retains a degree of love for Jamal. For his part Jamal makes the most of what life gives him. He only resorts to the criminal activities Salim sees as the only way to make it out of necessity. At two different times Jamal is heart-breakingly separated from Latika, and at one level the entire film is a love story about Jamal's single-minded dedication to reunite with the only girl he ever loved. (Nine astonishing performances are given of the "Three Musketeers" at three different ages of life, and it is appropriate to give credit to Ayush Mahesh Khedekar, Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail and Rubiana Ali as the youngest Jamal, Salim and Latika as well as Tanay Chheda, Ashutosh Lobo Gajiwala and Tanvi Ganesh Lonkar as the just-past-puberty versions. Dev Patel and the beautiful Freida Pinto may become international sensations as the adult star-crossed lovers. Madhur Mittal has less screen time as the adult Salim, but his character plays an important role.)
The faint-hearted should know that the language could appear on American television and that there is no nudity, but the violence, in particular two torture scenes, are flinch-inducing.
Slumdog is a piece of fiction - a fantasy - but it includes real emotions and believable human characters. I walked from the theater feeling a little better about being alive, and knowing that I had just viewed a stunning artistic achievement.
One of the inequities of the movie business is that a film like this can only open in a few theaters in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles, and take weeks to arrive at "lesser" destinations like Atlanta and Houston and St. Louis, while Beverly Hills Chihuahua opened nationwide on thousands of screens. I'm just sayin'.

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Jamal Malik (Dev Patel) is just one question away from winning a fortune on India's version of "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?" But how has this uneducated young man from the slums succeeded in providing correct responses to questions that have stumped countless scholars before him? And will he ultimately win it all or lose everything, including his true love?
Audio: English: 5.1 Dolby Surround / French: Dolby Surround
Language: Dubbed: English & French / Subtitled: English, French & Spanish
Aspect Ratio: Widescreen: 2.35:1

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