Having absorbed the first season of veronica mars over the last two weekends. I thought I’d share my thoughts on the series with the rest of you.

For those not in know, Veronica Mars is an American TV series about the title character Veronica Mars. Who is a high school student with a P.I. father and who also moonlights as a private investigator herself. The series is kinda of like Buffy mixed with a old school detective novel, which equates to awesome in my books.

The first season deals with the aftermath of Lilly Kane’s death. Who was Veronica’s best friend and also her ex-boyfriend’s sister. Veronica’s life has fallen apart, her father has lost his job as town Sheriff mostly due to him blaming Lilly’s father for the murder, her mother has left town for unknown reasons and she has been outcast from her circle of friends for siding with her father. The new sheriff (the former deputy) continues the case. A local man Abel Koontz is arrested, tried and sent to jail for the crime, but neither Veronica or her father believe he is the real killer.

Normally first seasons of shows are mostly promising but a bit weak in season long story arc’s. Veronica Mars went against the trend and had a really great story long arch as Veronica tries to solve the murder of her best friend, with many plot twists that keep you guessing until the last episode of the season.

Things I love about the series are:

• Veronica’s amusing interactions with her father such as when he tells her not to investigate a case then tells her to be careful when she does.
• Interesting mysteries that aren’t obvious.
• The way that Veronica gets everyone to do favours for her and she gets back at people who have done wrong by her or others.

I’m giving the season 4/5 because of the awesome story arcs and general solid mysteries. It would of been 5/5 if there had been more character development.

I was really wanting to love this movie, but it didn’t quite live up to expectations. Which is weird because they gave Guillermo del Toro full control this time and I’m a fan of del Toro’s other projects such as Blade II and Pan’s. I was hoping Hellboy 2 would be as good or greater than his previous works.

Things I liked:

• The animation at the start when Hellboy’s father tells him about the battle between men and mythical creatures
• Hellboy and Abe getting drunk and singing together
• Luke goss as Prince Nuada who stole the show in my opinion
• Johann Krauss
• The story was interesting

Things I didn’t like:

• Half hearted acting by most of the cast, Selma Blair should of just stood around asking for her pay cheque, it would of been more convincing
• Hellboy looked like he didn’t have any shoulders this time around
• The Goblin Blacksmith was supposedly crazy but acted fairly normal other than wanting shiny items

I’m giving this a 4 out of 5. Mainly because I was really tired when I saw it and will probley enjoy it much more when I buy it on DVD.