TV & Movie Crime Log: Orphan, Means, Call & Night
I’ve got a bit of a sore throat today and will be blogging in a hoarse whisper, so you’re going to have to come a bit closer, a bit closer, a bit closer.
Woah, what do you think you’re doing? I didn’t ask you to sit in my lap! My goodness.
Let’s talk about Orphan Black first. BBC3 tonight at 9pm. It’s kind of science-fictiony, but there’s a crimey element, so it’s going in the Log. Eyes left for a picture of a lady from it.
It’s about a girl – an orphan, correct – who witnesses the suicide of a girl who looks exactly like she does. So, yes, you’re way ahead of me here, she assumes her identity. As a result she is ‘thrust headlong’ – I’m copying from the programme notes – ‘into a kaleidoscopic mystery.’
Sarah Manning finds herself caught in the middle of a deadly conspiracy involving cloning in this ‘exciting and ambitious’ 10-part drama. It’s a BBC America production, actually, and as is blatantly evident from the trailer, is filmed in Canada. But it’s done the business in the US, or about as much business as you can modestly achieve on BBC America, and has been commissioned for a second series.
I don’t think I’ve watched BBC3 except in error, so it’ll be a new experience for me, at least. Oh wait, 60 Second News – that’s good. It’s like the news, but in only 60 seconds.
Someone in the BBC trails department has dug out the old Hustle music to whet our appetites for By Any Means, which begins on BBC1 on Sunday night at 9pm.
It’s about a clandestine unit ‘living on the edge and playing the criminal elite at their own game.’ So, a bit like Hustle, then.
I’m just going to cut-and-paste the next bit because I need to take a Strepsil.
Working in the shadows, the maverick team inhabit the grey area between the letter of the law and true justice.
In the first episode of the series, the team, led by Jack Quinn, are brought on board by their mysterious handler Helen Barlow when infamously crooked businessman Nicholas Mason, is acquitted of robbery and the murder of an innocent man, due to lack of evidence.
Although Mason never gets his hands dirty, Helen knows that he is behind the crime – and countless others. Jack is determined to bring the elusive criminal to justice with the help of his team, sassy Jessica Jones and tech genius Thomas Tomkins.
However, their job is made even more difficult when it’s revealed that a police officer appears to be feeding Mason information. Will the team be able to find Mason’s weakness and catch him red-handed? And will they be able to uncover which officer has been playing for both teams?
Warren Brown is in it. You know him. He was in Luther, until he wasn’t, and Inside Men – which I really liked – and that other cop thing. It’s him on the left, not the guy from Primeval. Keith Allen, he’s in it as well, and Gina McKee.
By Any Means is created by Tony Jordan - who, er, created Hustle.
And so we move to the glamorous world of the big screen.
The Call is a kind of high-concepty thriller about a 911 operator who must confront a killer who’s abducted a girl. Halley Berry, as the operator, is on a headset for most of the film, but I’m guessing she’ll be able to venture further than the office vending-machine to save the girl.
The Call is directed by Brad Anderson, who made the terrific The Machinist, the one where Christian Bale looks like Peter Crouch, and the not so terrific Vanishing On 7th Street.
I’m going to dial up a trailer.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PUUF2bF_zbI
Are you thinking what I’m thinking? Yes, that hair looks like it takes a lot of work. The Call is opening wide.
The awkwardly-titled Cold Comes The Night is about a motel owner and her daughter who are taken hostage by a nearly-blind career criminal. It stars Alice Eve, her off Star Trek, and Walter White himself, Bryan Cranston. Good luck getting anymore information about it than that. You will not be totally knocked-out to discover Cold Comes The Night doesn’t open wide.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=80C3yttlDjU
