Rome is a great TV show

Debbie and I borrowed Rome from L&S, and watched both seasons in about a week and a half. It's a beautifully shot romp of a TV show that I really, really enjoyed. I am an ignaramus when it comes to Roman history, so there was much suspense in the show for me (moreso than for Debbie), but what made it really stand out was the energetic pace, the excellent acting, and the oddly endearing main characters (the presumably non-historical soldiers Pullo and Verenus). Despite many despicable acts, they were thoroughly awesome main characters and their stories wove through 'history' in a thoroughly engaging way. It was neat. I recommend it (if violence and full frontal nudity don't offend you - it is an R16). We also watched Ghost Rider, which was very, very bland. Unimaginatively structured, with some outright plot holes (or at least plot weaknesses), it relied too heavily on its special effects, which were at times not that impressive. The tragedy was the amount of money you could see flashing past you in each shot, but the lack of a well thought out story or good action scenes. Sure, you might have some cool fx shot you want to include in an action scene, but it shouldn't be the only thing happening in the scene, to the detriment of believability. I'm glad I waited for the DVD to come out, but even then it was only just worth finishing. A film which we started watching but didn't finish was Bandidas, produced by Robert Rodriguez and starring Salma Hayek and Penelope Cruz. Despite some big names, it was very bland and unengaging to start with, and by about half an hour in we gave up. Now, I think this film could be a lot of fun if you were playing a drinking game with tequilla - with a drink for every time the bad guys cold-bloodedly gun down a defenceless old man, or the two lead actresses have a cat fight, or they trot out some other Western cliche. Watching this film while hammered may be a lot of fun. Uh. Jonathan Creek is cool to watch (season one - most of which I hadn't seen). Conchords was neat (and they've apparently been picked up for a second season!). Dresden Files looks like it's going to be cool too. I like watching TV shows (especially on DVD, when you can binge).