Thursday, February 13, 2014

Dracula/ The Millers/ Do No Harm



Jan. 31 Dracula: I saw the TV show Dracula on Oct. 25, 2013.  Cut to Romania 1881.  Two men dig into a cave and find a coffin.  One man kills the other man, and it bleeds into the vampire.  Dracula becomes alive.

Cut to London 1896.

Dracula is now an American citizen and he has Renfield (Nonso Anozie), his assistant who knows that he is really a vampire.  He is played by a black man.  There is a gala that is thrown by Dracula and he goes by a different name. 

Dracula is played by Jonathan Rhys Meyers.

Dracula/ Grayson: I’m Alexander Grayson.

Lucy (Katie McGrath), journalist Jonathan Harker (Oliver Jackson-Cohen.  He’s handsome).  There is Mina (Jessica De Gouw).  As soon as Grayson and Mina look at each other, there is a connection.  They feel like they know each other.  Grayson sees that Mina looks like his lover from the past.

Mina is a med student.  Grayson shows his technological invention of giving electricity.  He passes out light bulbs without wires and then all the light bulbs go on.

Behind the scenes are the factory workers powering it.  Then it stops because it’s going to blow up.

There are noises after the party.  A business man is killed.

They introduce the Order of the Dragon.  They murder people with politics and oil.  Grayson’s plan is to use his geomagnetic technology, and then the Dragon won't have more money and power.

Grayson killed a man and delivers it’s head to the Order of the Dragon.  Lady Jayne (Victoria Smurfit) holds it.  They think it’s a vamp, but don’t know for sure.

Cut to Professor Van Helsing (Thomas Kretschmann) is teaching medicine.  Mina is the only woman there.

Grayson does an interview with Jonathan for the newspaper.  They shake hands in the sunlight and Grayson’s hand burns a bit.

Grayson: My parents are from Europe.
Jonathan: And that Thomas Edison didn’t run you out of the US?

Van Helsing and Mina talk about how Mina wants to be the research assistant.  She gets good marks, but not a steady hand in surgery.

Grayson goes to the opera and hooks up with Lady Jayne.

Grayson then gets into this great sword fight with a vampire hunter on the roof.

Jayne trains with swords and she’s a vampire hunter too.  She has kept a female vamp in a cage.

Jayne: Who is your sire?

Helsing visits Grayson.

Through the flashback, it turns out Helsing raised Grayson form the coffin in the cave in the beginning of the episode.

Helsing: The Order of the Dragon killed my family.
Grayson: The Order of the Dragon killed my wife Maria.

Maria looks just like Mina and she was burned at the stake.

My opinion: I’m going to say there is good production value.  This is the only TV show that I had kept watching after the pilot.  This is a great TV show.  There are 10 episodes this season and I have watched them all.

I was kind of hesitant at first because there is so many vampire TV shows right now.  There is so much Dracula in TV and movies already.  I’m also not into watching things set in the past without TV or internet. 

It’s very well-written.  There is a lot gruesome violence and some sex.  The story is what keeps me watching.

The Millers: I saw the first half of the pilot on Oct. 3, 2013.  I only saw half of it because then it was time for me to go and eat dinner.  This is not a well-rounded review.  Nathan Miller (Will Arnett from Arrested Development) is a TV news reporter.  He is reporting abut a mom who is making her kid hold a sign “I have a filthy mouth” and walk around the neighborhood with it.

Nathan doesn’t want to tell his parents that he’s divorced.  He is talking to his sister Debbie (Jayma Mays) and her husband.  The parents Carol (Margo Martindale) and Tom (Beau Bridges) call and say their basement is flooded and there are flying over and staying at Nathan’s place.

They see that Janice isn’t there and Nathan has to tell them he’s divorced.  I did laugh at the point where Carol and Tom saying “What?” about the news. 

Tom: I’m divorcing you.

My opinion: I didn’t watch all of it so I can’t say a lot.  I’m not a fan of sitcoms.  This is the set up where the dad lives with the daughter and the mom lives with her son.  If you like sitcoms or any of the actors I mentioned, you may like it.

Do No Harm: I’m talking about the TV movie starring Deanna Russo who was on Gossip Girl for a few eps.    I had to look her up. I saw it on Dec. 11, 2013.  I watched it because nothing else was on and I wasn’t feeling very good.

She plays Emily and her fiancé died in a plane crash and she attempts to commit suicide.  She’s in a mental hospital and meets Dr. Thorne (Lauren Holly.  She was in the TV movie Call Me Mrs. Miracle).  Dr. Thorne counsels her.  Emily’s friend Gillian (Sarah Allen) visits her a lot.  Emily puts her life back together and ends her relationship with the therapist.

Dr. Thorne then starts stalking Emily.  Later it’s revealed that Dr. Thorne has a daughter named Emily and she is comatose and living in a home.  It’s transference that Thorne thinks Emily is her daughter.

Emily’s new psychiatrist is killed by Dr. Thorne.  Emily’s friend Gillian does some investigating by going to the home.  She finds out about the daughter and Dr. Thorne is chasing her.  Gillian drives away in car and Dr. Thorne drives her car into Gillian’s car and Gillian is leaving a message to Emily.

Dr. Thorne then kidnaps Emily to her cottage.  Emily has gotten a boyfriend Ian (Paul Greene) and he is looking for Emily when she disappeared. There are two detectives looking into the psychiatrist’s murder and the car accident that Gillian is involved in.

The best part is the climatic ending.  Emily is running away and she runs into a farm house.  Dr. Thorne has her shot gun and is shooting at the hay as Ian is running around the farm.

Dr. Thorne points her gun at Emily and fires.  She’s out.  Emily hits her with a shovel.  Thorne is arrested and Ian is an ambulance.  His arm was shot.

Cut to Gillian’s wedding.  Emily and Ian are attending it.  They kiss.


My opinion: This TV movie was mediocre and kind of boring.  There are good TV movies out there like In Her Mother’s Footsteps.  It stars Emma Caulfield (Anya from Buffy) and I wrote about it on my blog.


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