The Best* Shows
*that not enough people are watching
I'm not going to waste your time talking about stuff like Mad Men, Breaking Bad, Fargo and Masters of Sex, because everyone knows about them and their brilliance is well-documented. Instead, I want to cover three shows that, according to the ratings and award-consideration, very few people are watching, but deserve just as much attention as the aforementioned group.
The Americans (FX)
The Americans is both a gripping spy thriller and engaging family drama. The show follows the Jennings, a pair of Soviet spies living near Washington DC trying to balance their job of counter-intelligence with their cover as a happy suburban American family. Very often, television shows will attempt to split their dynamic like this, with one aspect of the story that is thrilling and fun to watch (in this case, the spycraft) with the other half often becoming overly melodramatic in a way that drags down the overall quality (in this case, the family drama). This is not the case with The Americans. The scenes of the family dealing with the rebellious daughter as just as engaging as those of the spies infiltrating an American military base. The two leads (Keri Russell and Matthew Rhys) are electric, and with strong secondary players the cast knocks it out of the park. I want to give a special mention to young unknown Holly Taylor, who plays the Jennings' daughter and was the standout role in the second season.
I can't heap enough praise onto this show, and I have no trouble proclaiming the second season of The Americans the best individual season of the June 2013 through May 2014 television season. Yes, even above the seventh season of Mad Men, the first season of Masters of Sex and the final season of Breaking Bad. The show is just that good.
Orphan Black (BBC America)
A show that has rightfully blown up due to Tatiana Maslany's continued absence at the Emmy awards, Orphan Black is about a conspiracy involving a human cloning program. The plot is intriguing and the pacing is crisp, but the real draw here is Maslany. She juggles multiple roles with ease, slipping back and forth between the different clones effortlessly, very often making the audience forget that one actress plays six (plus) different characters. She is assisted by a mostly-competent cast, highlighted by Jordan Gavaris as her eclectic and hilarious foster brother. Occasionally, the show stumbles with some weak sci-fi tropes or the occasional mid-season drag, but overall package is solid and Maslany elevates it to a completely different level.
Hannibal (NBC)
Totally unexpected coming from notorious failure broadcast network NBC, Hannibal rivals many of the best basic and premium cable dramas in its production values, cinematography and directing. Hannibal follows the story of well-known fictional cannibal Hannibal Lecter (played brilliantly by Mads Mikkelsen), adapting and massively expanding on his story as found in the Thomas Harris novels. Unlike the films and books, the show begins the story long before Hannibal dons the famous facemask and even before he is incarcerated, during his time as a psychologist consultant with the FBI. He is paired with unstable profiler Will Graham (a stand-out performance from Hugh Dancy) and together they investigate especially gruesome and unique murders.
I know that sounds like a standard shitty police procedural, and while Hannibal starts out with a procedural bent, the story quickly becomes so much more than that as the relationship between Hannibal and Will begins to develop. Even when it steers back into procedural territory, the atmosphere is unparalleled, combining beautifully shot scenes with amazing prosthetic and SFX work and a haunting score. The artistry present in the show is unmatched, which is no surprise coming from creator Bryan Fuller, best known for his work on Wonderfalls and Pushing Daisies. The world of Hannibal is almost dreamlike in its presentation, and thus one needs to suspend their disbelief in some of the more.... exotic kills.
The Worst* Shows
*only counting shows of which I have seen at least half a season's worth of episodes
It's not worth it to talk about shows that everyone knows is bad, but I'd like to shine the light on a few shows that people seem to hold in high regard that are in fact completely awful.
Scandal (ABC)
I don't even know where to start with Scandal. The cinematography and editing are some of the worst in television, with an extreme overuse of weird transitions that (I assume) are supposed to be imitating a camera shutter. A single or infrequent use of this technique would be fine, but it's used for nearly every scene transition and is hugely distracting. The cinematography is also frustrating, as the scenes are often composed with large objects set in the extreme foreground, partially obscuring elements of the shot (example, shooting through a 6-panel glass door to the conversation taking place inside, but taking up a quarter of the shot with the wood framing between the glass). I get it, Scandal directors, you're trying to convey a sense of voyeurism and eavesdropping, but could you possibly do it in a more amateurish and hackneyed way? Ugh.
The writing is terrible as well, relying on the most convoluted conspiracy plots ever to heighten the drama of every scene. Every single scene has to be as dramatic as possible, and it comes off as an overproduced soap opera. If you ever tried to describe the plot of a single episode to someone unfamiliar with the show, they would probably look at you like you were a crazy person.
Despite this awful, awful writing, I have to say that the acting is generally pretty good. Tony Goldwyn is great as a skeezy POTUS, and Bellamy Young does admirably as his forever-embroiled-in-drama wife. Most of the White House staff is well cast and does a competent job with the material, but on the other side of the coin is the crisis management firm, which is populated by the biggest bunch of overactors this side of a Mel Brooks film. Scott Foley is the best of the bunch, but the crap he is given doesn't allow for much to shine through. The worst of the bunch, however, is lead Kerry Washington. She is atrocious, exclusively ping-ponging between a grand total of two emotional states: devastatingly upset and confident speechifying. There is no other way to describe the complete lack of range and nuance to her performance. Every other lead actress who was snubbed should be downright offended that such garbage was rewarded with an Emmy nomination.
Once Upon A Time (ABC)
Less bad than the others on my list, mostly because it doesn't take itself too seriously, but still bad, Once Upon a Time combines a bunch of fairy tales in really lame ways to cough out the most basic and boring, but at the same time ridiculously convoluted and insane plots to fill each season. The show makes no sense, makes up its own rules as it goes along (a big no-no for the fantasy genre), writes itself out of plot holes less effectively than JK Rowling, and tries its best to tie up every bit of insanity at the end of each season. The cast sucks (aside from Robert Carlyle, who singlehandedly makes the show bearable) and the dialogue is downright painful. I said before that the show doesn't take itself too seriously, but sometimes it does and every single one of those times ends up failing miserably.
I'm going to end with an actual, real line that was spoken during a very climactic battle scene that was going to decide the fate of a bunch of major characters: “Our mother taught me one thing. Never bring your heart to a witch fight. Something you’d know if she hadn’t abandoned you.”
If I hadn't started laughing uncontrollably, my brain probably would have collapsed from stupid.
Homeland (Showtime)
If Homeland had been on season, consisting of the first 11 episodes of season 1 and the final 2 episodes of season 2, it would have gone down as an uneven but ballsy and engaging show about terrorism. Instead, we got an awful knock-off Romeo and Juliet story with some awful acting and even worse writing. Don't get me wrong, Claire Danes is a great actress and she did some amazing things with her material in season 1, but everything that followed was an awful retread of the worst parts of the first season and it made me question the entire quality of her performance.
The three biggest themes of the show seem to be family, terrorism and mental health, and yet it somehow manages to say nearly nothing about any of those things. The high production values and the slick advertising campaign and mostly good first season have tricked us all into suffering through some terrible television that tries to pass itself off as high art.
Under The Dome (CBS)
The worst show on TV, no question about it. Not only is it a terrible adaptation of an excellent and thrilling novel, it's a terrible show in its own right. The writing is reminiscent of Lost if Lost were written by high school freshman, the acting is wooden and stiff, yet overdone and hammy at the same time, the visual style is bland, the SFX are a joke, the characters change completely from one episode to another, the story picks up and drops plot points almost at random, I could go on and on. I can't believe this show gets higher ratings than anything in my "best shows" list above. What a pile of trash.
The Walking Dead (AMC)
The Walking Dead is a show I want to like, but the show tries as hard as possible to make sure I can't enjoy it. It's uneven as all hell and vacillates wildly between watchable popcorn fun and poorly written awful character-drama and never once manages to find a solid footing, even after 4 seasons. Luckily, the show has transcended the normal-badness of shows like Scandal, Homeland and Under the Dome and into hilarious badness. Watching TWD with friends and making fun of it MST3K style is highly enjoyable, and makes a unique unbearable show into something worth watching.
Do not for a second think that I mean it's actually worth watching, because it's not. It's an awful mess with no direction and it can't even get the special effects right. It's a goddamn zombie show with awesome make-up but still uses terrible mid-90s CGI on almost everything.
It's so bad that it is hard to articulate how bad it actually is.
Thursday, September 04, 2014
Monday, January 21, 2013
2012 Movie Recap
It's that time of year again, one of maybe 4 times where I actually update this useless blog. I'm still not sure why I continue, but meh, whatever. In any case, time for my top 10 films of 2012 (not feeling the awards post this year). I'll try to do a quick blurb describing my reasoning for each placement.
Honorable Mentions
Beasts of the Southern Wild
Looper
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
The Dark Knight Rises
The Avengers
Seven Psychopaths
Argo (This missed my top ten by 1 spot. Nearly flawless film from a film-making standpoint, but it was rather forgettable and was missing that extra something necessary to capture my attention)
Top Ten
10. Skyfall
A thrilling deconstruction of the new, grittier James Bond of the Daniel Craig films and a rebirth into the suave, sophisticated secret agent we all know and love. An excellent and fitting tribute to the 50th anniversary of the Bond franchise.
9. Flight
Denzel Washington owns the screen once again as an alcoholic hero pilot who deals with a disaster in the sky while battling his own demons. Washington's performance elevates a unique but sometimes uneven script into the top 10.
8. End of Watch
This movie completely blew me away. Everything comes together perfectly, from the tight direction and focused script to the fantastic performances of all members of the cast. Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Pena are excellent, and Anna Kendrick's barely-there side character will stick in your head.
7. Life of Pi
I will be very, very disappointing if Ang Lee loses out on a best directing Oscar for this movie. One of the most beautifully shot movies ever, not just this year, and the best use of 3D to date.
6. Lawless
I honestly don't know why I loved this movie so much, but the simple story of a bunch of moon-shining brothers captured me. The cast is excellent, lead by the unexpected ranged Shia LeBeouf, even if he is outclassed by Tom Hardy and Guy Pearce. John Hillcoat is going to enter the upper echelon of great directors someday.
5. Cabin in the Woods
I'm never going to look at a horror movie the same way again after this genre-bending gore-fest. The most fun movie of the year.
4. Lincoln
Great performances, great direction, great script. This would probably be the best film of the year in a large percentage of the last decade. Unfortunately, this was one of the best years in film of the last two decades. This one also ends about 3 scenes after it should have, lessening the emotional impact of an otherwise excellent film.
3. Django Unchained
Quentin Tarantino's second best film. Not much else needs to be said. If you don't like Tarantino, Django isn't going to change your mind, but for those of us that do, this one is a treat.
2. Silver Linings Playbook
This movie has gotten lots of flak from some who consider themselves "enlightened" film critics. However, I consider this a great slice-of-life story about people dealing with mental illness. It's billed as a rom-com, but is anything but, and Bradley Cooper gives the performance of a life-time.
1. Zero Dark Thirty
Best film of the year. ZDT is a visceral, tense, emotional and interesting roller-coaster, and Jessica Chastain gives an wonderful performance. Do not listen to the criticisms of anyone who hasn't seen the film, because almost all of the controversy surrounding this film is completely baseless. Katheryn Bigelow, coming off The Hurt Locker, manages to top it in every way.
I'll be doing my annual write-up of the Oscar nominations soon as well, although you may be surprised at the length of the post given my generally positive reaction this to year's batch of nominees.
Honorable Mentions
Beasts of the Southern Wild
Looper
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
The Dark Knight Rises
The Avengers
Seven Psychopaths
Argo (This missed my top ten by 1 spot. Nearly flawless film from a film-making standpoint, but it was rather forgettable and was missing that extra something necessary to capture my attention)
Top Ten
10. Skyfall
A thrilling deconstruction of the new, grittier James Bond of the Daniel Craig films and a rebirth into the suave, sophisticated secret agent we all know and love. An excellent and fitting tribute to the 50th anniversary of the Bond franchise.
9. Flight
Denzel Washington owns the screen once again as an alcoholic hero pilot who deals with a disaster in the sky while battling his own demons. Washington's performance elevates a unique but sometimes uneven script into the top 10.
8. End of Watch
This movie completely blew me away. Everything comes together perfectly, from the tight direction and focused script to the fantastic performances of all members of the cast. Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Pena are excellent, and Anna Kendrick's barely-there side character will stick in your head.
7. Life of Pi
I will be very, very disappointing if Ang Lee loses out on a best directing Oscar for this movie. One of the most beautifully shot movies ever, not just this year, and the best use of 3D to date.
6. Lawless
I honestly don't know why I loved this movie so much, but the simple story of a bunch of moon-shining brothers captured me. The cast is excellent, lead by the unexpected ranged Shia LeBeouf, even if he is outclassed by Tom Hardy and Guy Pearce. John Hillcoat is going to enter the upper echelon of great directors someday.
5. Cabin in the Woods
I'm never going to look at a horror movie the same way again after this genre-bending gore-fest. The most fun movie of the year.
4. Lincoln
Great performances, great direction, great script. This would probably be the best film of the year in a large percentage of the last decade. Unfortunately, this was one of the best years in film of the last two decades. This one also ends about 3 scenes after it should have, lessening the emotional impact of an otherwise excellent film.
3. Django Unchained
Quentin Tarantino's second best film. Not much else needs to be said. If you don't like Tarantino, Django isn't going to change your mind, but for those of us that do, this one is a treat.
2. Silver Linings Playbook
This movie has gotten lots of flak from some who consider themselves "enlightened" film critics. However, I consider this a great slice-of-life story about people dealing with mental illness. It's billed as a rom-com, but is anything but, and Bradley Cooper gives the performance of a life-time.
1. Zero Dark Thirty
Best film of the year. ZDT is a visceral, tense, emotional and interesting roller-coaster, and Jessica Chastain gives an wonderful performance. Do not listen to the criticisms of anyone who hasn't seen the film, because almost all of the controversy surrounding this film is completely baseless. Katheryn Bigelow, coming off The Hurt Locker, manages to top it in every way.
I'll be doing my annual write-up of the Oscar nominations soon as well, although you may be surprised at the length of the post given my generally positive reaction this to year's batch of nominees.
Tuesday, June 19, 2012
My 2012 Emmy Nominations - Drama
Drama Nominations
After trying for about 20 minutes to write this post, I realize that I watch almost nothing worthy of Emmy awards except for Game of Thrones, Breaking Bad and Mad Men. I do watch The Walking Dead and American Horror Story, but neither of those shows deserves Emmys for anything. That being said, I will choose winners and runner-ups for each category, but I cannot do a full nomination breakdown.
Best Supporting Actress
Winner: Christina Hendricks, "Mad Men"
Runner-Up: Lena Headey, "Game of Thrones"
Christina Hendricks took her performance to a whole new level this year, and thus deserves her Emmy. I would have chosen Lena Headey, but she's going to win an award for season 5 of Game of Thrones (if they make it that far). Maisie Williams was also in the running, although she has a strong chance of winning it in the next two years, for Seasons 3 or 4 of Game of Thrones.
Best Supporting Actor
Winner: Vincent Kartheiser, "Mad Men"
Runner-Up: Aaron Paul, "Breaking Bad"
Vincent Kartheiser was brilliant on Mad Men this year and completely overshadowed everyone else on the show. Aaron Paul or Peter Dinklage will likely win the real statue, although Peter Dinklage did not have enough to do on Game of Thrones to win this year, in my opinion.
Best Actress
Winner: Elisabeth Moss, "Mad Men"
Runner-Up: Julianna Margulies, "The Good Wife"
Make-up award for last year. Also from a severe lack of worthy nominess.
Best Actor
Winner: Bryan Cranston, "Breaking Bad"
Runner-Up: Jon Hamm, "Mad Men"
Poor Jon Hamm. Last year was his one chance to win one of these, and Kyle Chandler ended up winning for 5 seasons of underappreciation on Friday Night Lights. Bryan Cranston has a lock on this award until Breaking Bad airs its final season in 2013 (the same year Mad Men will air its final season).
Best Drama
Winner: Mad Men
Runner-Up: Game of Thrones
Like Bryan Cranston's hold over the Best Actor category, I can safely say that Mad Men will never lose Best Drama as long as it is on the air. Game of Thrones was excellent this year, but its best seasons are yet to come.
After trying for about 20 minutes to write this post, I realize that I watch almost nothing worthy of Emmy awards except for Game of Thrones, Breaking Bad and Mad Men. I do watch The Walking Dead and American Horror Story, but neither of those shows deserves Emmys for anything. That being said, I will choose winners and runner-ups for each category, but I cannot do a full nomination breakdown.
Best Supporting Actress
Winner: Christina Hendricks, "Mad Men"
Runner-Up: Lena Headey, "Game of Thrones"
Christina Hendricks took her performance to a whole new level this year, and thus deserves her Emmy. I would have chosen Lena Headey, but she's going to win an award for season 5 of Game of Thrones (if they make it that far). Maisie Williams was also in the running, although she has a strong chance of winning it in the next two years, for Seasons 3 or 4 of Game of Thrones.
Best Supporting Actor
Winner: Vincent Kartheiser, "Mad Men"
Runner-Up: Aaron Paul, "Breaking Bad"
Vincent Kartheiser was brilliant on Mad Men this year and completely overshadowed everyone else on the show. Aaron Paul or Peter Dinklage will likely win the real statue, although Peter Dinklage did not have enough to do on Game of Thrones to win this year, in my opinion.
Best Actress
Winner: Elisabeth Moss, "Mad Men"
Runner-Up: Julianna Margulies, "The Good Wife"
Make-up award for last year. Also from a severe lack of worthy nominess.
Best Actor
Winner: Bryan Cranston, "Breaking Bad"
Runner-Up: Jon Hamm, "Mad Men"
Poor Jon Hamm. Last year was his one chance to win one of these, and Kyle Chandler ended up winning for 5 seasons of underappreciation on Friday Night Lights. Bryan Cranston has a lock on this award until Breaking Bad airs its final season in 2013 (the same year Mad Men will air its final season).
Best Drama
Winner: Mad Men
Runner-Up: Game of Thrones
Like Bryan Cranston's hold over the Best Actor category, I can safely say that Mad Men will never lose Best Drama as long as it is on the air. Game of Thrones was excellent this year, but its best seasons are yet to come.
My 2012 Emmy Nominations - Comedy
In years past I have made a list of my own Emmy nominations as a counter to the official lists, which are generally announced in August and awarded in September. With the end of the 2011-12 season eligibility recently passing, I decided to make my list of Emmy nominations before my thinking becomes tainted by the official nominations. This post will handle the comedy nominations, and the following post will handle the drama nominations. Winners are in italics. (Note: I forgot that Curb Your Enthusiasm aired during the Emmy qualifying period, so I am revising these accordingly).
Comedy Nominations
Best Supporting Actress
Gillian Jacobs, "Community"
Allison Brie, "Community"
Cobie Smulders, "How I Met Your Mother"
Melissa Rauch, "The Big Bang Theory"
Rashida Jones, "Parks and Recreation"
Cobie Smulders absolutely killed it this year on How I Met Your Mother. Gillian Jacobs would be my second choice. Despite my occasional hatred towards The Big Bang Theory, Melissa Rauch (and the women in general) is the best thing about the show. I can almost guarantee that none of my nominations will actually get nominated (except possibly Rauch).
Best Supporting Actor
Nick Offerman, "Parks and Recreation"
Danny Pudi, "Community"
Rob Lowe, "Parks and Recreation"
Garret Dillahunt, "Raising Hope"
Neil Patrick Harris, "How I Met Your Mother"
NPH was downright robbed last year, so this is partially a make-up win, but well-deserved for his performance this season. My second choice would be Nick Offerman, who, under normal circumstances, I would like to win every year. I will be satisfied with the Emmy committee if any of these 5 end up taking home the trophy, even though I know it's going to go to someone from Modern Family (which is completely undeserving this year).
Best Actress
Martha Plimpton, "Raising Hope"
Amy Poehler, "Parks and Recreation"
Zoey Deschanel, "The New Girl"
Julia-Louis Dreyfuss, "Veep"
Kaley Cuoco, "The Big Bang Theory"
This isn't even a contest. Amy Poehler should have won last year, and she was even better this year. A very, very distant second would be Martha Plimpton (who should really be in the supporting actress category).
Best Actor
Joel McHale, "Community"
Alec Baldwin, "30 Rock"
Larry David, "Curb Your Enthusiasm"
David Duchovny, "Californication"
Josh Radnor, "How I Met Your Mother"
Curb had it's best season ever, and Larry David's performance is quite possibly one of the best comedy performances of all time. David Duchovny would by my second choice.
Best Comedy
"Community"
"How I Met Your Mother"
"Parks and Recreation"
"Curb Your Enthusiasm"
"Raising Hope"
Parks and Recreation is the best comedy currently on television, and no one will ever convince me otherwise. However, I can almost guarantee Modern Family is going to win for the third season in a row, because the Emmy voters have trouble judging individual seasons on their own merits, and MF was bad this year. Curb comes in a very, very close second.
Comedy Nominations
Best Supporting Actress
Gillian Jacobs, "Community"
Allison Brie, "Community"
Cobie Smulders, "How I Met Your Mother"
Melissa Rauch, "The Big Bang Theory"
Rashida Jones, "Parks and Recreation"
Cobie Smulders absolutely killed it this year on How I Met Your Mother. Gillian Jacobs would be my second choice. Despite my occasional hatred towards The Big Bang Theory, Melissa Rauch (and the women in general) is the best thing about the show. I can almost guarantee that none of my nominations will actually get nominated (except possibly Rauch).
Best Supporting Actor
Nick Offerman, "Parks and Recreation"
Danny Pudi, "Community"
Rob Lowe, "Parks and Recreation"
Garret Dillahunt, "Raising Hope"
Neil Patrick Harris, "How I Met Your Mother"
NPH was downright robbed last year, so this is partially a make-up win, but well-deserved for his performance this season. My second choice would be Nick Offerman, who, under normal circumstances, I would like to win every year. I will be satisfied with the Emmy committee if any of these 5 end up taking home the trophy, even though I know it's going to go to someone from Modern Family (which is completely undeserving this year).
Best Actress
Martha Plimpton, "Raising Hope"
Amy Poehler, "Parks and Recreation"
Zoey Deschanel, "The New Girl"
Julia-Louis Dreyfuss, "Veep"
Kaley Cuoco, "The Big Bang Theory"
This isn't even a contest. Amy Poehler should have won last year, and she was even better this year. A very, very distant second would be Martha Plimpton (who should really be in the supporting actress category).
Best Actor
Joel McHale, "Community"
Alec Baldwin, "30 Rock"
Larry David, "Curb Your Enthusiasm"
David Duchovny, "Californication"
Josh Radnor, "How I Met Your Mother"
Curb had it's best season ever, and Larry David's performance is quite possibly one of the best comedy performances of all time. David Duchovny would by my second choice.
Best Comedy
"Community"
"How I Met Your Mother"
"Parks and Recreation"
"Curb Your Enthusiasm"
"Raising Hope"
Parks and Recreation is the best comedy currently on television, and no one will ever convince me otherwise. However, I can almost guarantee Modern Family is going to win for the third season in a row, because the Emmy voters have trouble judging individual seasons on their own merits, and MF was bad this year. Curb comes in a very, very close second.
Monday, January 02, 2012
The Too-Soon* 2011 Movie Awards!
*I will fully admit that while I saw a lot of movies this year, I did not see as many of the "Oscar-worthy" films as I would have liked (The Tree of Life, Shame, The Artist, The Descendants, Hugo, The Ides of March). Without those films, this list is pretty pointless, but whatever.
Anyway, here are my awards for the year, following a similar format as last year:
Stinker of the Year (winner in italics)
Transformers: Dark of the Moon
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2
Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (seriously, I love this series, but this movie was a train wreck)
The Thing
Best Comic/Children's Book Adaptation
Thor
Captain America: The First Avenger
X-Men: First Class
Mindless Fun Award
Fast Five
Scream 4
Real Steel
Best Actor
Daniel Craig - "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo"
Michael Fassbender - "X-Men: First Class" (Based on what I've head, I have a feeling he would be in here for A Dangerous Method or Shame anyway if I had seen them)
Brad Pitt - "Moneyball"
Ryan Gosling - "Drive"
Joseph Gordon Levitt - "50/50"
Best Actress
Carrie Mulligan - "Drive"
Kate Winslet - "Contagion"
Rooney Mara - "The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo"
Anne Heche - "Cedar Rapids"
Kristen Wiig - "Bridesmaids"
Best Score/Original Music
Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross - "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo"
Cliff Martinez - "Contagion"
Cliff Martinez - "Drive"
Michael Giacchino - "Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol"
Cristophe Beck - "The Muppets"
Best Director
Nicolas Winding Refn - "Drive"
David Fincher - "The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo"
Steven Soderbergh - "Contagion"
Bennett Miller - "Moneyball"
Woody Allen - "Midnight in Paris"
Top 10 Movies of the Year (in order)
1. The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
2. Drive
3. Midnight in Paris
4. Moneyball
5. 50/50
6. Cedar Rapids
7. X-Men: First Class
8. The Muppets
9. Red State
10. Contagion
Anyway, here are my awards for the year, following a similar format as last year:
Stinker of the Year (winner in italics)
Transformers: Dark of the Moon
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2
Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (seriously, I love this series, but this movie was a train wreck)
The Thing
Best Comic/Children's Book Adaptation
Thor
Captain America: The First Avenger
X-Men: First Class
Mindless Fun Award
Fast Five
Scream 4
Real Steel
Best Actor
Daniel Craig - "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo"
Michael Fassbender - "X-Men: First Class" (Based on what I've head, I have a feeling he would be in here for A Dangerous Method or Shame anyway if I had seen them)
Brad Pitt - "Moneyball"
Ryan Gosling - "Drive"
Joseph Gordon Levitt - "50/50"
Best Actress
Carrie Mulligan - "Drive"
Kate Winslet - "Contagion"
Rooney Mara - "The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo"
Anne Heche - "Cedar Rapids"
Kristen Wiig - "Bridesmaids"
Best Score/Original Music
Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross - "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo"
Cliff Martinez - "Contagion"
Cliff Martinez - "Drive"
Michael Giacchino - "Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol"
Cristophe Beck - "The Muppets"
Best Director
Nicolas Winding Refn - "Drive"
David Fincher - "The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo"
Steven Soderbergh - "Contagion"
Bennett Miller - "Moneyball"
Woody Allen - "Midnight in Paris"
Top 10 Movies of the Year (in order)
1. The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
2. Drive
3. Midnight in Paris
4. Moneyball
5. 50/50
6. Cedar Rapids
7. X-Men: First Class
8. The Muppets
9. Red State
10. Contagion
Thursday, July 14, 2011
My Rant on Why The Emmy Nominations Have Become a F***ing Joke, Part 1
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/14/arts/television/2011-emmy-award-nominees.html?_r=1
The Emmy nominations came out today, and I don't think I have ever been more disappointed in the slough of shows, actors and actresses slated for the awards show this year.
A DISCLAIMER: Now, this year was fairly lacking for television, with heavy hitters like Lost, 24 and Battlestar Galactica ending their runs, and Breaking Bad missing the cut off for inclusion by 2 months, but still. This group of nominees is pure ass.
Going award by award (comedies first), let's take a look at these abominations of nominations (rhymes are awesome!):
Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy
I'm mostly okay with this one, although Jane Krakowski getting nominated at all makes me want to barf. I really like 30 Rock, but she is easily the worst part about it and I cringe every time she is on screen. And not in a good way, like with vintage The Office, but in a "get the fuck off the screen you annoying bitch" kind of way. She should have been replaced by Phyllis Sommerville or Cynthia Nixon from "The Big C", Cobie Smulders from "How I Met Your Mother" or by Alison Brie from "Community". Otherwise I'm generally okay with this list. It's really too bad Curb Your Enthusiasm didn't have an eligible season. Suzie Essman would run away with this award.
My Nominees (winner in CAPS)
Phyllis Sommerville, "The Big C"
SOFIA VERGARA, "Modern Family"
Julie Bowen, "Modern Family"
Alison Brie, "Community"
Cynthia Nixon, "The Big C"
Kaley Cuoco, "The Big Bang Theory" (she is seriously the only watchable thing about that show)
Sofia Vergara is one of the many amazing things about Modern Family. Second choice would be Phyllis Sommerville.
Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy
I hate this list. Every single one of those Modern Family nominees deserved it, but I still hate the 4 of the 6 nominees are from the same show. Two and a Half Men needs to burn in hell, so I hope Jon Cryer breaks something before the ceremony, and Chris Colfer's mouth shouldn't be allowed on television (also, I'm ultra-biased against Glee this year because it was a steaming pile of poop compared to the first season). This year was mother-fucking LOADED with awesome supporting roles for male actors in comedies, and they still nominate 4 guys from the same show? Bullshit! I can't even write a real sentence, so here's a list of extremely deserving people who got snubbed: Dani Pudi and Donald Glover (Community), Oliver Platt (The Big C), Aziz Ansari, Adam Scott, Rob Lowe,RON MOTHERFUCKING SWANSON Nick Offerman and Chris Pratt (Parks and Recreation), Neil Patrick Harris and Jason Segel (How I Met Your Mother), Garret Dillahunt (Raising Hope). The more I look at it, the more I hate it. Once again, too bad for no CYE. Bob Einstein as Marty Funkhouser would sneak in over Stonestreet.
My Nominees:
Ty Burrell, "Modern Family"
Eric Stonestreet, "Modern Family"
NICK OFFERMAN, "Parks and Recreation"
Oliver Platt, "The Big C"
Adam Scott, "Parks and Recreation"
Donald Glover, "Community"
but really, ANY of these guys deserve to win. That is just how f'ing loaded this category is this year. And they still nominated Jon fucking Cryer. Ty Burrell is my second choice and I hope he wins the real thing.
Best Actress in a Comedy
This one is hard for me, because I don't generally watch a lot of female-led comedies, and, to be honest, I don't think I'd change a damn thing in this category. All of the nominees are deserving, except maybe Melissa McCarthy, but that's just because I loathe Chuck Lorre and everything he does. Melissa McCarthy is generally a good actress and, while I haven't subjected myself to an episode of Mike & Molly, I imagine she performs well in it.
Winner: AMY POEHLER, "Parks and Recreation"
Laura Linney is clearly the best here, but her role is barely comedic at all. Amy Poehler made Leslie Knope so unique and hilarious. For those who don't believe me, watch the season 3 episode "The Flu". You will cry laughing.
Best Actor in a Comedy
I don't like this list either. Not because the majority of these guys are undeserving (Steve Carell and Rainn Wilson were the only good things about The Office this year, but the season as a whole was so damn bad that I feel like it doesn't deserve anything), but there are more deserving people, like Joel McHale (Community) and Josh Radnor (How I Met Your Mother).
My Nominees:
Louis C.K., "Louie"
Joel McHale, "Community"
Josh Radnor, "How I Met Your Mother"
ALEC BALDWIN, "30 Rock"
Steve Carrell, "The Office"
Rainn Wilson, "The Office" (he deserves to be in the lead category)
I realize he has won this like 4 times in a row, but he's just that damn funny, and this category is rather weak. My second choice would be Josh Radnor.
Best Comedy
This category is an abortion. This is easily the worst of them all. The Office, Big Bang Theory and Glee were travesties last season. At least with the other categories, you could make cases for individual performances in poor programs (except Jon Cryer), but there is no excuse for those three shows making it in. I could understand if it was a garbage year and the committee was just picking old favorites, but this year had a great lineup of comedies. I am appalled. Simply appalled.
My Nominations:
"The Big C"
"Community"
"How I Met Your Mother"
"Modern Family"
"PARKS AND RECREATION"
"Raising Hope"
Parks and Recreation's 3rd season may go down as one of the best comedy seasons of anything ever. Every episode was pure comedic gold. My second choice would be... nothing. I enjoyed each of these shows, but P&R completely killed it every single week. 1-2 more consistent seasons and it will legitimately enter the conversation when discussing Best Comedies of All Time with the likes of Arrested Development and Seinfeld.
So, you can see how terrible the nominations are. I'll get to the dramas in a day or two, because those offend me less. The drama field was a barren wasteland, so I can't fault a lot of the choices, although a few irk me. But we'll get to that later.
The Emmy nominations came out today, and I don't think I have ever been more disappointed in the slough of shows, actors and actresses slated for the awards show this year.
A DISCLAIMER: Now, this year was fairly lacking for television, with heavy hitters like Lost, 24 and Battlestar Galactica ending their runs, and Breaking Bad missing the cut off for inclusion by 2 months, but still. This group of nominees is pure ass.
Going award by award (comedies first), let's take a look at these abominations of nominations (rhymes are awesome!):
Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy
I'm mostly okay with this one, although Jane Krakowski getting nominated at all makes me want to barf. I really like 30 Rock, but she is easily the worst part about it and I cringe every time she is on screen. And not in a good way, like with vintage The Office, but in a "get the fuck off the screen you annoying bitch" kind of way. She should have been replaced by Phyllis Sommerville or Cynthia Nixon from "The Big C", Cobie Smulders from "How I Met Your Mother" or by Alison Brie from "Community". Otherwise I'm generally okay with this list. It's really too bad Curb Your Enthusiasm didn't have an eligible season. Suzie Essman would run away with this award.
My Nominees (winner in CAPS)
Phyllis Sommerville, "The Big C"
SOFIA VERGARA, "Modern Family"
Julie Bowen, "Modern Family"
Alison Brie, "Community"
Cynthia Nixon, "The Big C"
Kaley Cuoco, "The Big Bang Theory" (she is seriously the only watchable thing about that show)
Sofia Vergara is one of the many amazing things about Modern Family. Second choice would be Phyllis Sommerville.
Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy
I hate this list. Every single one of those Modern Family nominees deserved it, but I still hate the 4 of the 6 nominees are from the same show. Two and a Half Men needs to burn in hell, so I hope Jon Cryer breaks something before the ceremony, and Chris Colfer's mouth shouldn't be allowed on television (also, I'm ultra-biased against Glee this year because it was a steaming pile of poop compared to the first season). This year was mother-fucking LOADED with awesome supporting roles for male actors in comedies, and they still nominate 4 guys from the same show? Bullshit! I can't even write a real sentence, so here's a list of extremely deserving people who got snubbed: Dani Pudi and Donald Glover (Community), Oliver Platt (The Big C), Aziz Ansari, Adam Scott, Rob Lowe,
My Nominees:
Ty Burrell, "Modern Family"
Eric Stonestreet, "Modern Family"
NICK OFFERMAN, "Parks and Recreation"
Oliver Platt, "The Big C"
Adam Scott, "Parks and Recreation"
Donald Glover, "Community"
but really, ANY of these guys deserve to win. That is just how f'ing loaded this category is this year. And they still nominated Jon fucking Cryer. Ty Burrell is my second choice and I hope he wins the real thing.
Best Actress in a Comedy
This one is hard for me, because I don't generally watch a lot of female-led comedies, and, to be honest, I don't think I'd change a damn thing in this category. All of the nominees are deserving, except maybe Melissa McCarthy, but that's just because I loathe Chuck Lorre and everything he does. Melissa McCarthy is generally a good actress and, while I haven't subjected myself to an episode of Mike & Molly, I imagine she performs well in it.
Winner: AMY POEHLER, "Parks and Recreation"
Laura Linney is clearly the best here, but her role is barely comedic at all. Amy Poehler made Leslie Knope so unique and hilarious. For those who don't believe me, watch the season 3 episode "The Flu". You will cry laughing.
Best Actor in a Comedy
I don't like this list either. Not because the majority of these guys are undeserving (Steve Carell and Rainn Wilson were the only good things about The Office this year, but the season as a whole was so damn bad that I feel like it doesn't deserve anything), but there are more deserving people, like Joel McHale (Community) and Josh Radnor (How I Met Your Mother).
My Nominees:
Louis C.K., "Louie"
Joel McHale, "Community"
Josh Radnor, "How I Met Your Mother"
ALEC BALDWIN, "30 Rock"
Steve Carrell, "The Office"
Rainn Wilson, "The Office" (he deserves to be in the lead category)
I realize he has won this like 4 times in a row, but he's just that damn funny, and this category is rather weak. My second choice would be Josh Radnor.
Best Comedy
This category is an abortion. This is easily the worst of them all. The Office, Big Bang Theory and Glee were travesties last season. At least with the other categories, you could make cases for individual performances in poor programs (except Jon Cryer), but there is no excuse for those three shows making it in. I could understand if it was a garbage year and the committee was just picking old favorites, but this year had a great lineup of comedies. I am appalled. Simply appalled.
My Nominations:
"The Big C"
"Community"
"How I Met Your Mother"
"Modern Family"
"PARKS AND RECREATION"
"Raising Hope"
Parks and Recreation's 3rd season may go down as one of the best comedy seasons of anything ever. Every episode was pure comedic gold. My second choice would be... nothing. I enjoyed each of these shows, but P&R completely killed it every single week. 1-2 more consistent seasons and it will legitimately enter the conversation when discussing Best Comedies of All Time with the likes of Arrested Development and Seinfeld.
So, you can see how terrible the nominations are. I'll get to the dramas in a day or two, because those offend me less. The drama field was a barren wasteland, so I can't fault a lot of the choices, although a few irk me. But we'll get to that later.
Thursday, May 05, 2011
Why "How I Met Your Mother" is the Best* Comedy on Television
*by "best", I mean my favorite. "Arrested Development" still holds that crown.
Recently, my girlfriend and I finished rewatching all of the aired episodes of "How I Met Your Mother" (henceforth referred to as HIMYM, because How I Met Your Mother is annoying as shit to type), which is currently about to wrap up its sixth season, which also happens to be its sixth quality season. Before I go on, let me put that into perspective. "The Office," one of the most highly regarded shows on the air, is currently in its seventh season, and it has been 3+ years since a quality one. So, there.
HIMYM revolves around the lives of five friends who live in New York City. The show starts with Ted Mosby (2030 version is voiced by Bob Saget, present time version is played by Josh Radnor) telling a story to his children in the year 2030 about how he met their mother. The story begins when two central characters, Marshall (Jason Segel) and Lily (Alyson Hannigan) (college sweethearts who have been together for 9 years) get engaged. Marshall's college/current roommate and best friend, Ted, decides that he wants to find "the one" and settle down when he hears of Marshall and Lily's engagement. It is at this point that he sees a girl (Robin, played by Cobie Smulders) from across the bar (McLaren's, one of the central locales of the show) and falls quickly for her. The very first episode ends with a twist, however, when it is revealed by 2030-Ted that this is the day he met "Aunt Robin", one of his best friends and an honorary aunt to his kids. Right off the bat you know that Robin isn't The One.
A small aside: This is where most people decide what kind of show this is going to be for them. In my discussions around town and the internet, I have discovered that most people decided that their primary concern was going to be The Mother, and her ultimate identity. This is a mistake. This first episode is meant to give the audience the groundwork for the eventual (and still yet to happen) reveal of the mother, but at the same time let them know that The Mother isn't the most important thing in the show. Even from the very first episode, the audience is supposed to know that the show is about Ted, and how his journey through his late-20s and early-30s allows him to grow into the person he needs to be and arrive at the point in time when he meets The Mother. People seem to have a hard time understanding this, which is one reason I hear a lot of hate for this show because it "takes too long to go anywhere." Readers, keep this in mind if you ever decide to start watching. Anyway...
The first season deals with Ted's newfound obsession with getting married and gives the audience some insight into this group of friends. When the show starts, Marshall, a kid from St. Cloud, Minnesota, is a law student at NYU, studying to become an environmental lawyer, because his dream is to work for the NRDC (National Resource Defense Council). His fiancée, Lily, is a kindergarten teacher who went to college to be an artist, but was never able to realize her dream. Ted is a mid-level architect at a New York architecture firm who wants nothing more than to design a skyscraper in the NYC skyline. Robin is a local TV news reporter working for Metro News 1 (the lowest rated metro news channel) with dreams of hosting a cable news show. The 5th member of the group is Barney (played spectacularly by Neil Patrick Harris), a suit-wearing, scotch-drinking, cigar-smoking playboy whose only initial goal in life is to make money, have fun and get laid. Now that you have the groundwork for the characters...
I am going to try to stay away from specific plot points in order to keep from spoiling new viewers, but I may spoil a thing or two here and there in order to get my point across. HIMYM is an absolutely phenomenal show for several reasons. First, it is the most relatable show on television. Second, it is marketed as a generic sitcom (which turns off as many viewers as it brings in), but it is very, very far from a generic sitcom. Third, the portrayal of these five friends and how they mature and change as they grow older is spot on. Fourth, it is absolutely hilarious, but can still handle hard subjects and heavy material without feeling heavy handed. Starting with #4, here is some more detail.
#4 - It is absolutely hilarious, but can still handle hard subjects and heavy material without feeling heavy handed.
It's a comedy. It's supposed to be funny. You're supposed to laugh. But what really makes this show amazing in the pure-comedy category is that it is a perfect balance of many different styles of comedy. It has lots of accessible sitcom-style humor, lots of referential in-jokes and call-backs without going too over the top (while I adore the shit out of "Community," it is definitely guilty of this), lots of character-based humor, some physical comedy, lots of clever pop-culture references and throwbacks, and plenty of what I like to call "slow burn" humor (jokes that are seeded early and teased out until exploding into hilarious moments). At the same time, the show deals with a lot of heavy material. Some examples include: several divorces, cheating, family deaths, abandonment issues, unknown paternity, marriage, depression, unemployment, debt, fate vs. choice. HIMYM doesn't handle these subjects like a normal sitcom, either through some heavy-handed moral message (ala Saved by the Bell) or an inappropriate and distasteful amount of humor (ala Two and A Half Men), but instead manages to balance the issue with an appropriate level of humor. The death of a character's father, for example, is handled with almost zero direct humor, while a mini-storyline about credit-card debt is loaded with direct comedy. Balance is the essence of everything on HIMYM.
#3 - The portrayal of these five friends and how they mature and change as they grow older is spot on.
Every single person on HIMYM has changed drastically since their introduction in the very first episode, yet every person still feels true to the characters we met in that first episode. Granted, there have been some minor hiccups along the way, primarily in regards to the first couple of seasons, but I give the writers/creators a free pass for this due to the show's fate being in a constant state of flux (HIMYM was a last-second renewal for its first 3 seasons, leading to a lot of rushed storylines). Once the show settled into some comfortable ratings and earned itself a near indefinite lifespan from CBS, the continuity really cemented itself. Anyway. Every character on the show has dealt with some sort of life-altering event during the course of the show, both internal and external, yet none of the situations has felt forced. The growth of the characters feels completely natural. I credit this both to the writing staff, and to the cast. This cast is phenomenal. There isn't a single actor I would want replaced with someone else. As a testament to that, even though I don't particularly care for Lily and occasionally think she's a bad person, I wouldn't ever call her inconsistent, poorly written or a bad character, and I sure as hell wouldn't want anyone other than Alyson Hannigan playing her. This is why the show gets better on repeated viewings. Much of the character humor is lost on the audience in the first season, simply because you haven't gotten to know them yet. When you go back and watch it again, the original stuff you laughed at is just as funny as the first time, and now you have additional character-based humor to laugh at. It just gets better and better.
#2 - It is marketed as a generic sitcom (which turns off as many viewers as it brings in), but it is very, very far from a generic sitcom.
I went over most of this in #4, but here are some additional thoughts. CBS's marketing would lead one to believe that HIMYM is in the same category as the rest of CBS's cranially cadaverous lineup of 2.5 Men, The Big Bang Theory, Mike and Molly and $#!% My Dad Says. It is absolutely not. Just watch it and you'll see what I mean. I will warn you, the first season feels very sitcom-y, but the show quickly grows out of that. Just trust me and give it a chance. Without further ado, the most important reason the show is the best:
#1 - It is the most relatable show on television.
I didn't really drink in college. I have been single for a grand total of fourteen months since I was 16. I don't really go to bars. I don't womanize. I'm not married. I'm in no rush to get married. I have no desire to have kids now (and am slowly losing the desire to have them at all). I don't live in NYC. One would think that I would have absolutely nothing in common with these characters yet, somehow, I relate with these characters more than any other in any form of media. Sometimes, I feel like I am Ted, or Marshall, or even Robin at times. The stories that are told, the decisions that the characters make and the themes that are explored are universal. Every Single Person Who watches this show will find at least one character to whom they relate exceptionally well (and have friends who basically are the other characters). On top of this, phrases and sayings from this show will enter your every-day vocabulary, simply because so many of the things those phrases and sayings are based on have happened to every single one of us at some point. A few examples include The Chain/Circle/Pyramid of Screaming, Graduation Goggles (my personal favorite), The Reacher & The Settler, The Hot/Crazy Scale, The Cheerleader Effect and Revertigo. If you can't already figure it out and want to know what these mean, watch the show. They will all make perfect sense and give you a new way to describe the situations you get yourself into.
I could go into waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay more detail about how amazing this show is, but I can't without spoiling the shit out of it. Hey, another reason it's so awesome. It's a comedy where the viewers actually care about the storyline and would be pissed if something were spoiled for them (HIMYM is full of cliff-hangers and plot twists. How many comedies can say that?).
Everyone needs to watch this show. And if by some crazy miracle you watch the show and don't find it at all relatable, then I may question your humanity. You heard it here first. If you don't relate in some way to HIMYM, you are a reptoid.
Recently, my girlfriend and I finished rewatching all of the aired episodes of "How I Met Your Mother" (henceforth referred to as HIMYM, because How I Met Your Mother is annoying as shit to type), which is currently about to wrap up its sixth season, which also happens to be its sixth quality season. Before I go on, let me put that into perspective. "The Office," one of the most highly regarded shows on the air, is currently in its seventh season, and it has been 3+ years since a quality one. So, there.
HIMYM revolves around the lives of five friends who live in New York City. The show starts with Ted Mosby (2030 version is voiced by Bob Saget, present time version is played by Josh Radnor) telling a story to his children in the year 2030 about how he met their mother. The story begins when two central characters, Marshall (Jason Segel) and Lily (Alyson Hannigan) (college sweethearts who have been together for 9 years) get engaged. Marshall's college/current roommate and best friend, Ted, decides that he wants to find "the one" and settle down when he hears of Marshall and Lily's engagement. It is at this point that he sees a girl (Robin, played by Cobie Smulders) from across the bar (McLaren's, one of the central locales of the show) and falls quickly for her. The very first episode ends with a twist, however, when it is revealed by 2030-Ted that this is the day he met "Aunt Robin", one of his best friends and an honorary aunt to his kids. Right off the bat you know that Robin isn't The One.
A small aside: This is where most people decide what kind of show this is going to be for them. In my discussions around town and the internet, I have discovered that most people decided that their primary concern was going to be The Mother, and her ultimate identity. This is a mistake. This first episode is meant to give the audience the groundwork for the eventual (and still yet to happen) reveal of the mother, but at the same time let them know that The Mother isn't the most important thing in the show. Even from the very first episode, the audience is supposed to know that the show is about Ted, and how his journey through his late-20s and early-30s allows him to grow into the person he needs to be and arrive at the point in time when he meets The Mother. People seem to have a hard time understanding this, which is one reason I hear a lot of hate for this show because it "takes too long to go anywhere." Readers, keep this in mind if you ever decide to start watching. Anyway...
The first season deals with Ted's newfound obsession with getting married and gives the audience some insight into this group of friends. When the show starts, Marshall, a kid from St. Cloud, Minnesota, is a law student at NYU, studying to become an environmental lawyer, because his dream is to work for the NRDC (National Resource Defense Council). His fiancée, Lily, is a kindergarten teacher who went to college to be an artist, but was never able to realize her dream. Ted is a mid-level architect at a New York architecture firm who wants nothing more than to design a skyscraper in the NYC skyline. Robin is a local TV news reporter working for Metro News 1 (the lowest rated metro news channel) with dreams of hosting a cable news show. The 5th member of the group is Barney (played spectacularly by Neil Patrick Harris), a suit-wearing, scotch-drinking, cigar-smoking playboy whose only initial goal in life is to make money, have fun and get laid. Now that you have the groundwork for the characters...
I am going to try to stay away from specific plot points in order to keep from spoiling new viewers, but I may spoil a thing or two here and there in order to get my point across. HIMYM is an absolutely phenomenal show for several reasons. First, it is the most relatable show on television. Second, it is marketed as a generic sitcom (which turns off as many viewers as it brings in), but it is very, very far from a generic sitcom. Third, the portrayal of these five friends and how they mature and change as they grow older is spot on. Fourth, it is absolutely hilarious, but can still handle hard subjects and heavy material without feeling heavy handed. Starting with #4, here is some more detail.
#4 - It is absolutely hilarious, but can still handle hard subjects and heavy material without feeling heavy handed.
It's a comedy. It's supposed to be funny. You're supposed to laugh. But what really makes this show amazing in the pure-comedy category is that it is a perfect balance of many different styles of comedy. It has lots of accessible sitcom-style humor, lots of referential in-jokes and call-backs without going too over the top (while I adore the shit out of "Community," it is definitely guilty of this), lots of character-based humor, some physical comedy, lots of clever pop-culture references and throwbacks, and plenty of what I like to call "slow burn" humor (jokes that are seeded early and teased out until exploding into hilarious moments). At the same time, the show deals with a lot of heavy material. Some examples include: several divorces, cheating, family deaths, abandonment issues, unknown paternity, marriage, depression, unemployment, debt, fate vs. choice. HIMYM doesn't handle these subjects like a normal sitcom, either through some heavy-handed moral message (ala Saved by the Bell) or an inappropriate and distasteful amount of humor (ala Two and A Half Men), but instead manages to balance the issue with an appropriate level of humor. The death of a character's father, for example, is handled with almost zero direct humor, while a mini-storyline about credit-card debt is loaded with direct comedy. Balance is the essence of everything on HIMYM.
#3 - The portrayal of these five friends and how they mature and change as they grow older is spot on.
Every single person on HIMYM has changed drastically since their introduction in the very first episode, yet every person still feels true to the characters we met in that first episode. Granted, there have been some minor hiccups along the way, primarily in regards to the first couple of seasons, but I give the writers/creators a free pass for this due to the show's fate being in a constant state of flux (HIMYM was a last-second renewal for its first 3 seasons, leading to a lot of rushed storylines). Once the show settled into some comfortable ratings and earned itself a near indefinite lifespan from CBS, the continuity really cemented itself. Anyway. Every character on the show has dealt with some sort of life-altering event during the course of the show, both internal and external, yet none of the situations has felt forced. The growth of the characters feels completely natural. I credit this both to the writing staff, and to the cast. This cast is phenomenal. There isn't a single actor I would want replaced with someone else. As a testament to that, even though I don't particularly care for Lily and occasionally think she's a bad person, I wouldn't ever call her inconsistent, poorly written or a bad character, and I sure as hell wouldn't want anyone other than Alyson Hannigan playing her. This is why the show gets better on repeated viewings. Much of the character humor is lost on the audience in the first season, simply because you haven't gotten to know them yet. When you go back and watch it again, the original stuff you laughed at is just as funny as the first time, and now you have additional character-based humor to laugh at. It just gets better and better.
#2 - It is marketed as a generic sitcom (which turns off as many viewers as it brings in), but it is very, very far from a generic sitcom.
I went over most of this in #4, but here are some additional thoughts. CBS's marketing would lead one to believe that HIMYM is in the same category as the rest of CBS's cranially cadaverous lineup of 2.5 Men, The Big Bang Theory, Mike and Molly and $#!% My Dad Says. It is absolutely not. Just watch it and you'll see what I mean. I will warn you, the first season feels very sitcom-y, but the show quickly grows out of that. Just trust me and give it a chance. Without further ado, the most important reason the show is the best:
#1 - It is the most relatable show on television.
I didn't really drink in college. I have been single for a grand total of fourteen months since I was 16. I don't really go to bars. I don't womanize. I'm not married. I'm in no rush to get married. I have no desire to have kids now (and am slowly losing the desire to have them at all). I don't live in NYC. One would think that I would have absolutely nothing in common with these characters yet, somehow, I relate with these characters more than any other in any form of media. Sometimes, I feel like I am Ted, or Marshall, or even Robin at times. The stories that are told, the decisions that the characters make and the themes that are explored are universal. Every Single Person Who watches this show will find at least one character to whom they relate exceptionally well (and have friends who basically are the other characters). On top of this, phrases and sayings from this show will enter your every-day vocabulary, simply because so many of the things those phrases and sayings are based on have happened to every single one of us at some point. A few examples include The Chain/Circle/Pyramid of Screaming, Graduation Goggles (my personal favorite), The Reacher & The Settler, The Hot/Crazy Scale, The Cheerleader Effect and Revertigo. If you can't already figure it out and want to know what these mean, watch the show. They will all make perfect sense and give you a new way to describe the situations you get yourself into.
I could go into waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay more detail about how amazing this show is, but I can't without spoiling the shit out of it. Hey, another reason it's so awesome. It's a comedy where the viewers actually care about the storyline and would be pissed if something were spoiled for them (HIMYM is full of cliff-hangers and plot twists. How many comedies can say that?).
Everyone needs to watch this show. And if by some crazy miracle you watch the show and don't find it at all relatable, then I may question your humanity. You heard it here first. If you don't relate in some way to HIMYM, you are a reptoid.
Thursday, April 21, 2011
A Minor Crisis of Self
This past week, after stumbling upon a friend's blog, I realized something about myself.
I am no longer an intellectual person.
For the first four years of college, I loved to learn. I mean yeah, it was homework and tests and that sucked, but I adored just gobbling up knowledge in both of my majors and anywhere else I could find it. I wanted to know more and more and didn't want to stop learning more. I wanted to talk about everything I learned, discuss it and argue about it until I turned blue in the face. In my fifth year, my motivation to learn started getting edged out by my hatred of tests and homework, and by the end I just wanted to be done. However, I promised myself that I would start reading for recreation again, something I stopped doing somewhere between my sophomore and junior years due to just being too goddamn busy, because I knew it was one way I could force myself to do something that stimulated my brain. There were so many classic novels that I want to read (Ender's Game, 1984, Brave New World, to name a few) and I knew I would have time once I graduated.
It never happened. Once I graduated, I was so burned out from reading for classes (my last two semesters were brutal in the mindless reading category) that I never picked up another book. I feared that this would last forever. Luckily for me, a new opportunity presented itself. I found myself in a new job that required a lot of travel, including flying all over the damn country. Finally, I decided, I would have time with which I couldn't do anything but read. I bought a stack of books, made a list of more to buy, and got really excited about the prospect of doing something intelligent again.
Guess what happened. Go on, guess. I made it through a grand total of TWO books before I started bringing my DS with on my flights. Fucking TWO. And one of them barely even counts (The Book of Basketball by Bill Simmons. While entertaining and very educational, I can't exactly say that learning about the history of the NBA expanded my intellectual base). If anyone's curious, the other was Shalimar the Clown by Salman Rushdie, which was definitely stimulating. And sitting in my stack, untouched, a veritable treasure trove of modern classics (Blood Meridian, Infinite Jest, Gravity's Rainbow, several books by Haruki Murakami, etc). When I realized this, I become disgusted with myself, only to realize further that my entire self has become rather shallow.
My personal life (not counting spending time with my lovely girlfriend) basically consists of watching television shows (hence why a future post is going to be an in-depth analysis of How I Met Your Mother. Brace yourselves), surfing the internet, and playing video games. When did I revert to a 14 year old version of myself? What the hell happened?
This is especially jarring to me because, generally, the rest of my life is rather great. I love my girlfriend, I have a great job that is going to offer me a lot of opportunity in the future, I have finally gotten myself healthy physically (losing more than 80 lbs in the last year) and I am about to move out of the shithole that is Columbia Heights. My life is generally good, but it's missing something. It is missing the intellectual challenge I received nearly every day while in college. It is missing the passionate arguments about politics, business, ethics, hell, even life. I always hoped that I could rely on my friends for this stimulation once I graduated, only to realize that the vast majority of my friendships have become shallow voids or have faded into nothing. I can count the number of truly close friends that I have on one hand, and I'm lucky if I get to see them twice a month. I just plain don't have any motivation to improve myself intellectually, simply because I don't have to.
I'm not even really sure what I want to do about any of this, or what I even can do about any of it. I need to do something different, whether that be meeting some new people I can spar with, or trying to reconnect with some old friends, just something. I can't keep going on the way I am, because it is inevitably going to drive me insane. We'll see what happens.
I am no longer an intellectual person.
For the first four years of college, I loved to learn. I mean yeah, it was homework and tests and that sucked, but I adored just gobbling up knowledge in both of my majors and anywhere else I could find it. I wanted to know more and more and didn't want to stop learning more. I wanted to talk about everything I learned, discuss it and argue about it until I turned blue in the face. In my fifth year, my motivation to learn started getting edged out by my hatred of tests and homework, and by the end I just wanted to be done. However, I promised myself that I would start reading for recreation again, something I stopped doing somewhere between my sophomore and junior years due to just being too goddamn busy, because I knew it was one way I could force myself to do something that stimulated my brain. There were so many classic novels that I want to read (Ender's Game, 1984, Brave New World, to name a few) and I knew I would have time once I graduated.
It never happened. Once I graduated, I was so burned out from reading for classes (my last two semesters were brutal in the mindless reading category) that I never picked up another book. I feared that this would last forever. Luckily for me, a new opportunity presented itself. I found myself in a new job that required a lot of travel, including flying all over the damn country. Finally, I decided, I would have time with which I couldn't do anything but read. I bought a stack of books, made a list of more to buy, and got really excited about the prospect of doing something intelligent again.
Guess what happened. Go on, guess. I made it through a grand total of TWO books before I started bringing my DS with on my flights. Fucking TWO. And one of them barely even counts (The Book of Basketball by Bill Simmons. While entertaining and very educational, I can't exactly say that learning about the history of the NBA expanded my intellectual base). If anyone's curious, the other was Shalimar the Clown by Salman Rushdie, which was definitely stimulating. And sitting in my stack, untouched, a veritable treasure trove of modern classics (Blood Meridian, Infinite Jest, Gravity's Rainbow, several books by Haruki Murakami, etc). When I realized this, I become disgusted with myself, only to realize further that my entire self has become rather shallow.
My personal life (not counting spending time with my lovely girlfriend) basically consists of watching television shows (hence why a future post is going to be an in-depth analysis of How I Met Your Mother. Brace yourselves), surfing the internet, and playing video games. When did I revert to a 14 year old version of myself? What the hell happened?
This is especially jarring to me because, generally, the rest of my life is rather great. I love my girlfriend, I have a great job that is going to offer me a lot of opportunity in the future, I have finally gotten myself healthy physically (losing more than 80 lbs in the last year) and I am about to move out of the shithole that is Columbia Heights. My life is generally good, but it's missing something. It is missing the intellectual challenge I received nearly every day while in college. It is missing the passionate arguments about politics, business, ethics, hell, even life. I always hoped that I could rely on my friends for this stimulation once I graduated, only to realize that the vast majority of my friendships have become shallow voids or have faded into nothing. I can count the number of truly close friends that I have on one hand, and I'm lucky if I get to see them twice a month. I just plain don't have any motivation to improve myself intellectually, simply because I don't have to.
I'm not even really sure what I want to do about any of this, or what I even can do about any of it. I need to do something different, whether that be meeting some new people I can spar with, or trying to reconnect with some old friends, just something. I can't keep going on the way I am, because it is inevitably going to drive me insane. We'll see what happens.
Sunday, January 16, 2011
2010 Movies Awards
It's that time of year again! I feel as though I saw a much better and larger selection of films this year, but I still missed some of the potential Oscar contenders.
Without further adieu, here are my totally made up movie awards for 2010 (winners of each category in italics):
Stinker of the Year
Iron Man 2
Get Him to The Greek
Dumbest but Funnest
Machete
The A-Team
Piranha 3-D
Predators
Best Oscar Bait
127 Hours
The King's Speech
Shutter Island
The Kids Are All Right
The Ghost Writer
Best Comic/Children's Book Adaptation
Kick Ass
Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1
Best Actor
Jesse Eisenberg - "The Social Network"
Jeremy Renner - "The Town"
Colin Firth - "The King's Speech"
Leonardo Dicaprio - "Inception"
Jeff Bridges - "True Grit"
Best Actress
Hailee Stienfeld - "True Grit"
Natalie Portman - "Black Swan"
Anne Hathaway - "Love and Other Drugs"
Annette Bening - "The Kids Are All Right"
Rebecca Hall - "The Town"
Best Score/Music
Carter Burwell - "True Grit"
Clint Mansell - "Black Swan"
Hans Zimmer - "Inception"
Trent Reznor and Atticus Rose - "The Social Network"
Jeff Beck - "Scott Pilgrim vs. The World"
Best Director
Darren Aronofsky - "Black Swan"
David Fincher - "The Social Network"
Christopher Nolan - "Inception"
Ben Affleck - "The Town"
Lee Unkrich - "Toy Story 3"
Top 10 Movies of the Year (In order)
1. The Social Network
2. Black Swan
3. Toy Story 3
4. Inception
5. The Town
6. The King's Speech
7. Piranha 3-D
8. True Grit
9. Scott Pilgrim vs. The World
10. Love and Other Drugs
Movies that I missed that likely have shots at the top 10: Buried, The Fighter, Winter's Bone, Restrepo, Rabbit Hole, Blue Valentine, Biutiful, Let Me In.
Without further adieu, here are my totally made up movie awards for 2010 (winners of each category in italics):
Stinker of the Year
Iron Man 2
Get Him to The Greek
Dumbest but Funnest
Machete
The A-Team
Piranha 3-D
Predators
Best Oscar Bait
127 Hours
The King's Speech
Shutter Island
The Kids Are All Right
The Ghost Writer
Best Comic/Children's Book Adaptation
Kick Ass
Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1
Best Actor
Jesse Eisenberg - "The Social Network"
Jeremy Renner - "The Town"
Colin Firth - "The King's Speech"
Leonardo Dicaprio - "Inception"
Jeff Bridges - "True Grit"
Best Actress
Hailee Stienfeld - "True Grit"
Natalie Portman - "Black Swan"
Anne Hathaway - "Love and Other Drugs"
Annette Bening - "The Kids Are All Right"
Rebecca Hall - "The Town"
Best Score/Music
Carter Burwell - "True Grit"
Clint Mansell - "Black Swan"
Hans Zimmer - "Inception"
Trent Reznor and Atticus Rose - "The Social Network"
Jeff Beck - "Scott Pilgrim vs. The World"
Best Director
Darren Aronofsky - "Black Swan"
David Fincher - "The Social Network"
Christopher Nolan - "Inception"
Ben Affleck - "The Town"
Lee Unkrich - "Toy Story 3"
Top 10 Movies of the Year (In order)
1. The Social Network
2. Black Swan
3. Toy Story 3
4. Inception
5. The Town
6. The King's Speech
7. Piranha 3-D
8. True Grit
9. Scott Pilgrim vs. The World
10. Love and Other Drugs
Movies that I missed that likely have shots at the top 10: Buried, The Fighter, Winter's Bone, Restrepo, Rabbit Hole, Blue Valentine, Biutiful, Let Me In.
Tuesday, September 07, 2010
More Movie Reviews!
Being done with school and having a job with no consistent schedule to speak of, I've been able to go and see quite a few summer movies. I figure I'd rate 'em here, and I'd like to get back into reviewing recently viewed movies during the fall and winter.
The A-Team: 7.5/10
Toy Story 3: 9.5/10
Inception: 9.5/10
Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: 8.5/10
Piranha 3-D: 8/10
The A-Team: 7.5/10
Toy Story 3: 9.5/10
Inception: 9.5/10
Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: 8.5/10
Piranha 3-D: 8/10
Sunday, December 27, 2009
Top 10 Movies of the Year
1. Inglourious Basterds
2. Star Trek
3. Avatar
4. Moon
5. (500) Days of Summer
6. District 9
7. Watchmen: Director's Cut
8. The Hurt Locker
9. GI Joe: The Rise of Cobra
10. Terminator Salvation/The Hangover
Honorable Mention: The Road.
Note: I have not yet seen the following from this past year: Where the Wild Things Are, Away We Go, Zombieland, Paranormal Activity, Up, 9, Sherlock Holmes, Funny People, Drag Me To Hell, Up In The Air, A Single Man, Invictus, Brothers, Precious, The Fantastic Mr. Fox, An Education. I'll update this list accordingly as I start to make my way through these films over winter break.
2. Star Trek
3. Avatar
4. Moon
5. (500) Days of Summer
6. District 9
7. Watchmen: Director's Cut
8. The Hurt Locker
9. GI Joe: The Rise of Cobra
10. Terminator Salvation/The Hangover
Honorable Mention: The Road.
Note: I have not yet seen the following from this past year: Where the Wild Things Are, Away We Go, Zombieland, Paranormal Activity, Up, 9, Sherlock Holmes, Funny People, Drag Me To Hell, Up In The Air, A Single Man, Invictus, Brothers, Precious, The Fantastic Mr. Fox, An Education. I'll update this list accordingly as I start to make my way through these films over winter break.
Monday, December 21, 2009
Top 10 Albums of the Year
1. AFI - Crash Love
2. Silversun Pickups - Swoon
3. Muse - The Resistance
4. Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
5. Them Crooked Vultures - s/t
6. Mastodon - Crack the Skye
7. Megadeth - Endgame
8. Third Eye Blind - Ursa Major
9. Dream Theater - Black Clouds and Silver Lining
10. The Black Dahlia Murder - Deflorate
Honorable Mentions to Owl City - Ocean Eyes and Julian Casablancas - Phrazes for the Young
I'll do a top 10 movies of the year once the year is officially over. I can tell you right now that if Avatar doesn't completely blow my brain wide open Inglourious Basterds is going to be #1.
2. Silversun Pickups - Swoon
3. Muse - The Resistance
4. Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
5. Them Crooked Vultures - s/t
6. Mastodon - Crack the Skye
7. Megadeth - Endgame
8. Third Eye Blind - Ursa Major
9. Dream Theater - Black Clouds and Silver Lining
10. The Black Dahlia Murder - Deflorate
Honorable Mentions to Owl City - Ocean Eyes and Julian Casablancas - Phrazes for the Young
I'll do a top 10 movies of the year once the year is officially over. I can tell you right now that if Avatar doesn't completely blow my brain wide open Inglourious Basterds is going to be #1.
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Assorted Movies Reviews
Now that I've finished watching Six Feet Under (most emotionally gut-wrenching show ever by the way), I decided to catch up on all the movies I've meant to watch and never got around to. There are a lot of them, so I figured that every 6-10 movies I'd do a post with mini-reviews and ratings for what I watch. I'm trying to vary them by genre, so odds are it will be six reviews of very different genres.
X-Men Origins: Wolverine: 4/10
If not for the fact that it's X-Men, this would have been like a 2 or 3. For such a good cast, they really missed the mark here. The action is boring, the story is ridiculous (which is ok, it is a comic book movie after all), but worst of all, the special effects are atrocious. I'm talking fresh-out-of-film-school-low-budget bad. For a movie with a pretty sizable budget, I am appalled that the effects were as terrible as they were. Obvious and poorly modeled CGI, terrible use of green screen, even the goddamn environmental bullet hits looked bad. I didn't think it was possible to make a bullet hitting dirt look bad, but they succeeded. Here's hoping X-Men Origins: Deadpool is better.
Sidenote: The unnecessary cameos by a few fan-favorites (Gambit, Emma Frost) were just garbage. Poorly integrated, made no sense, and miscast.
The Girlfriend Experience: 6/10
Steven Soderbergh's low-budget art house movie about the life of a high-class New York call-girl. This is a total non-movie. No plot really to speak of, very wooden acting (which was probably on purpose), no resolution, just a camera following this call-girl and her boyfriend through a few days in their lives. However, it kept my interest for the whole thing and is definitely worth watching once. It is short enough (72 minutes) that you wont feel like you wasted your time. Had it been longer, it probably would have been boring, but somehow it was not.
Hellboy: 5.5/10
Hellboy 2: The Golden Army: 6.5/10
The first Hellboy is plagued mostly by a weak-ass, incoherent story and an inability to flesh out a bunch of interesting characters. Guillermo del Toro still hasn't found his visual style yet either, so the visual design isn't all that great either. Still fun to watch and really, really well-casted.
Hellboy 2 on the other hand, pretty much goes the opposite direction. Characters are fleshed out much better, the plot is interesting and easy to follow, and the visuals are phenomenal. The set and character design this time around are cool as hell (one particular scene shot with leaves falling constantly is amazingly well-done). However, the cast isn't nearly as good. David Hyde Pierce is sorely missed as the fish-dude Abe, especially considering how much bigger Abe's role is this time. John Hurt is missing this time around (for obvious reasons) and his lack of presence is felt as well. There are way too many scenes were I thought "oh man, this is good, but would have been so much better with [some other actor]. Still a big improvement over the first.
Observe and Report: 4/10
I honestly don't know how I feel about this movie. It wasn't really funny, but I don't know if it was necessarily supposed to be. It wasn't very compelling either. The characters were mostly stereotypical (sans one awesome character, a food court cashier) and for the most part the movie was pretty boring. Maybe I just didn't get it, but I don't have much to say about this movie.
Friday the 13th (1980): 6.5/10
A classic slasher movie that I never got around to seeing. It feels a bit dated today and isn't really scary, but it creates a good atmosphere, the kills are cool and the twist is pretty damn cool (even though I had been spoiled ahead of time). If I had been alive in 1980 and seen the movie then, it probably would have scared the pants off me. The only thing that hurts the rating is the desensitization of today's youth.
GI Joe: The Rise of Cobra: Fun as fuck/10
I feel like I can't give this movie a numerical rating, due to the fact that it has flaws that I couldn't care less about and that I watched the movie wearing nostalgia goggles. Despite a stupid love story (that is the 3rd or 4th most important story, so it stays in the background), the movie is balls-to-the-wall, in-your-face, over-the-top and completely ridiculous, which is exactly what I wanted from a movie based on a series of toys from the 80s. Why this succeeds where Transformers fails (and oh boy does Transformers fail) is that the lameness of this movie is the correct kind of lameness: over the top acting, ridiculous and asinine weapons and gadgets and Dennis Quaid. Transformers had sex jokes. Way to go Michael Bay. The casting in this movie was perfect. Absolutely perfect. It really felt like GI Joe should and I had a blast watching it. Oh hell, I give it a 9/10.
X-Men Origins: Wolverine: 4/10
If not for the fact that it's X-Men, this would have been like a 2 or 3. For such a good cast, they really missed the mark here. The action is boring, the story is ridiculous (which is ok, it is a comic book movie after all), but worst of all, the special effects are atrocious. I'm talking fresh-out-of-film-school-low-budget bad. For a movie with a pretty sizable budget, I am appalled that the effects were as terrible as they were. Obvious and poorly modeled CGI, terrible use of green screen, even the goddamn environmental bullet hits looked bad. I didn't think it was possible to make a bullet hitting dirt look bad, but they succeeded. Here's hoping X-Men Origins: Deadpool is better.
Sidenote: The unnecessary cameos by a few fan-favorites (Gambit, Emma Frost) were just garbage. Poorly integrated, made no sense, and miscast.
The Girlfriend Experience: 6/10
Steven Soderbergh's low-budget art house movie about the life of a high-class New York call-girl. This is a total non-movie. No plot really to speak of, very wooden acting (which was probably on purpose), no resolution, just a camera following this call-girl and her boyfriend through a few days in their lives. However, it kept my interest for the whole thing and is definitely worth watching once. It is short enough (72 minutes) that you wont feel like you wasted your time. Had it been longer, it probably would have been boring, but somehow it was not.
Hellboy: 5.5/10
Hellboy 2: The Golden Army: 6.5/10
The first Hellboy is plagued mostly by a weak-ass, incoherent story and an inability to flesh out a bunch of interesting characters. Guillermo del Toro still hasn't found his visual style yet either, so the visual design isn't all that great either. Still fun to watch and really, really well-casted.
Hellboy 2 on the other hand, pretty much goes the opposite direction. Characters are fleshed out much better, the plot is interesting and easy to follow, and the visuals are phenomenal. The set and character design this time around are cool as hell (one particular scene shot with leaves falling constantly is amazingly well-done). However, the cast isn't nearly as good. David Hyde Pierce is sorely missed as the fish-dude Abe, especially considering how much bigger Abe's role is this time. John Hurt is missing this time around (for obvious reasons) and his lack of presence is felt as well. There are way too many scenes were I thought "oh man, this is good, but would have been so much better with [some other actor]
Observe and Report: 4/10
I honestly don't know how I feel about this movie. It wasn't really funny, but I don't know if it was necessarily supposed to be. It wasn't very compelling either. The characters were mostly stereotypical (sans one awesome character, a food court cashier) and for the most part the movie was pretty boring. Maybe I just didn't get it, but I don't have much to say about this movie.
Friday the 13th (1980): 6.5/10
A classic slasher movie that I never got around to seeing. It feels a bit dated today and isn't really scary, but it creates a good atmosphere, the kills are cool and the twist is pretty damn cool (even though I had been spoiled ahead of time). If I had been alive in 1980 and seen the movie then, it probably would have scared the pants off me. The only thing that hurts the rating is the desensitization of today's youth.
GI Joe: The Rise of Cobra: Fun as fuck/10
I feel like I can't give this movie a numerical rating, due to the fact that it has flaws that I couldn't care less about and that I watched the movie wearing nostalgia goggles. Despite a stupid love story (that is the 3rd or 4th most important story, so it stays in the background), the movie is balls-to-the-wall, in-your-face, over-the-top and completely ridiculous, which is exactly what I wanted from a movie based on a series of toys from the 80s. Why this succeeds where Transformers fails (and oh boy does Transformers fail) is that the lameness of this movie is the correct kind of lameness: over the top acting, ridiculous and asinine weapons and gadgets and Dennis Quaid. Transformers had sex jokes. Way to go Michael Bay. The casting in this movie was perfect. Absolutely perfect. It really felt like GI Joe should and I had a blast watching it. Oh hell, I give it a 9/10.
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Music of the Year - Quick Summary
This is a quick overview of my top albums of the year thus far. I might do a more in-depth write-up once I get some more time at the end of the year.
1. AFI - Crash Love
Absolutely brilliant. Their best album and Davey Havok's best vocal performances. How many singers can say that about their 8th album, 14 years after their debut release?
2. Muse - The Resistance
Phenomenal album that is dropped to #2 by Matt Bellamy's weak vocals, which are normally stellar. Still probably Muse's best album.
3. Silversun Pickups - Swoon
Sophomore release from California rockers does everything their debut release did but better. Frontman Brian Aubert's riffs will burn your goddamn ears off (and they did when I saw them live from the front row this past August. Not kidding, just about went deaf), and his vocals have only gotten better.
4. Mastodon - Crack the Skye
Mastodon moves towards a more melodic metal style and in the process crafts one of the best metal albums of the decade. It's really too bad that there were other career-defining albums this year, otherwise this would probably be #1.
5. Megadeth - Endgame
Asinine, albeit hilarious lyrics drag this one down a few spots, but Endgame shows that Megadeth can still shred their asses off, unlike another certain 80s thrash metal band with a semi-recent record.
6. Third Eye Blind - Ursa Major
Third Eye Blind's fourth effor evokes images of their self-titled debut, which was one of the best albums of the 90s. The single, Don't Say A Word, plants itself among their best songs.
7. The Black Dahlia Murder - Deflorate
Great album from one of the better modern metal bands out there.
And the two most disappointing albums of the year were Pearl Jam's Backspacer and Paramore's Brand New Eyes.
1. AFI - Crash Love
Absolutely brilliant. Their best album and Davey Havok's best vocal performances. How many singers can say that about their 8th album, 14 years after their debut release?
2. Muse - The Resistance
Phenomenal album that is dropped to #2 by Matt Bellamy's weak vocals, which are normally stellar. Still probably Muse's best album.
3. Silversun Pickups - Swoon
Sophomore release from California rockers does everything their debut release did but better. Frontman Brian Aubert's riffs will burn your goddamn ears off (and they did when I saw them live from the front row this past August. Not kidding, just about went deaf), and his vocals have only gotten better.
4. Mastodon - Crack the Skye
Mastodon moves towards a more melodic metal style and in the process crafts one of the best metal albums of the decade. It's really too bad that there were other career-defining albums this year, otherwise this would probably be #1.
5. Megadeth - Endgame
Asinine, albeit hilarious lyrics drag this one down a few spots, but Endgame shows that Megadeth can still shred their asses off, unlike another certain 80s thrash metal band with a semi-recent record.
6. Third Eye Blind - Ursa Major
Third Eye Blind's fourth effor evokes images of their self-titled debut, which was one of the best albums of the 90s. The single, Don't Say A Word, plants itself among their best songs.
7. The Black Dahlia Murder - Deflorate
Great album from one of the better modern metal bands out there.
And the two most disappointing albums of the year were Pearl Jam's Backspacer and Paramore's Brand New Eyes.
Monday, July 02, 2007
A Little Bit of Everything, Part 1
What's up bloggers? It's been a while since I've updated, but I'm getting better... right? Well, in light of the 4th of July being right around the corner, I thought I would do a "Half-Year in Review" sort of post, commemorating what I think has mattered for the first half of 2007. I'll split it up into categories so you can skip the stuff you don't care about. Here we go.
Movies:
This year has been pretty.... well, weak when it comes to movies. I have only seen 5 films in theaters this year, down from my usual 10 or 15 by this time of year, and I've only missed 2 or 3 that I wanted to see but wasn't able to (Knocked Up, 28 Weeks Later and TMNT). I'm hoping the second half of the year is better, as there are a few films that have me positively excited (3:10 to Yuma, There Will Be Blood and American Gangster) and a few that have me mildly interested (The Simpsons Movie, The Bourne Ultimatum and National Treasure 2). However bleak the rest of this year looks, looking ahead, 2008 looks to more than make up for it, with sequels to Batman Begins (The Dark Knight), The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe (Prince Caspian) and the 4th installment of the Indiana Jones adventures coming to theaters. Now, in the interest of reviewing (that is what this post is all about), here are the ratings (out of 10) for the 5 films I have seen this year.
300: 7.5/10
Hot Fuzz: 9.5/10
Spider-Man 3: 6/10
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End: 9/10
Live Free or Die Hard: 8.5/10
Music:
Now, my musical tastes are somewhat limited, so I'm going to stick with mini-reviews for the new albums by some of my favorite bands. Also, be sure to check back in mid-August when I review at least 3 of the shows I will have attended. Now, onto the reviews.
Queens of the Stone Age - Era Vulgaris
When people think Queens of the Stone Age, they think "No One Knows", "Go With the Flow", and "Little Sister". This album contains a bit of each, with "Sick Sick Sick" echoing the heavy riffs found in NOK and GWtF and the stand out track, "3's & 7's", echoing the solo heavy LS. The rest of the album mixes just about any type of music you can imagine QotSA playing, and they do it with a flair I still haven't found in any other band.
Final Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Stand Out Tracks: Sick Sick Sick, I'm Designer, Misfit Love, Make It Wit Chu, 3's & 7's, Run Pig Run
Velvet Revolver - Libertad
A great break from their earlier sound in Contraband, Libertad manages to blend a few more styles of rock into its formula while still maintaining to guitar heavy rock that they are known for. Only listened to the album a few times, so I can't really comment on individual tracks just yet.
Initial Impression Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Smashing Pumpkins - Zeitgeist
One of those most anticipated reunion albums in recent years, the Smashing Pumpkins (despite the exclusion of James Iha and D'Arcy or Melissa Auf der Maur) are back. The new album stays true to the framework laid down in Machina and Machina II, incorporating much heavier and straightforward songs than they had in previous albums. While the album does kind of peter out at the end, this, I would argue, is a much better use of that framework, and frontman Billy Corgan really wasn't kidding when he said he missed the band. The emotion missing from his side project Zwan and his solo career are back in full force on this new album, and I only hope this means many more years of The Smashing Pumpkins are ahead of us.
Final Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Stand Out Tracks: Doomsday Clock, Tarantula, United States, That's the Way (My Love Is)
The rest I didn't really spend a whole lot of time with, so I can really only give them star ratings based on my initial impressions.
Dream Theater - Systematic Chaos: 3 out of 5 stars
The White Stripes - Icky Thump: 4.5 out of 5 stars
And since this post is much longer than I thought it would be, I will save the other stuff (politics, law, etc) to another day, hopefully later this week. Enjoy the 4th of July!
Movies:
This year has been pretty.... well, weak when it comes to movies. I have only seen 5 films in theaters this year, down from my usual 10 or 15 by this time of year, and I've only missed 2 or 3 that I wanted to see but wasn't able to (Knocked Up, 28 Weeks Later and TMNT). I'm hoping the second half of the year is better, as there are a few films that have me positively excited (3:10 to Yuma, There Will Be Blood and American Gangster) and a few that have me mildly interested (The Simpsons Movie, The Bourne Ultimatum and National Treasure 2). However bleak the rest of this year looks, looking ahead, 2008 looks to more than make up for it, with sequels to Batman Begins (The Dark Knight), The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe (Prince Caspian) and the 4th installment of the Indiana Jones adventures coming to theaters. Now, in the interest of reviewing (that is what this post is all about), here are the ratings (out of 10) for the 5 films I have seen this year.
300: 7.5/10
Hot Fuzz: 9.5/10
Spider-Man 3: 6/10
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End: 9/10
Live Free or Die Hard: 8.5/10
Music:
Now, my musical tastes are somewhat limited, so I'm going to stick with mini-reviews for the new albums by some of my favorite bands. Also, be sure to check back in mid-August when I review at least 3 of the shows I will have attended. Now, onto the reviews.
Queens of the Stone Age - Era Vulgaris
When people think Queens of the Stone Age, they think "No One Knows", "Go With the Flow", and "Little Sister". This album contains a bit of each, with "Sick Sick Sick" echoing the heavy riffs found in NOK and GWtF and the stand out track, "3's & 7's", echoing the solo heavy LS. The rest of the album mixes just about any type of music you can imagine QotSA playing, and they do it with a flair I still haven't found in any other band.
Final Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Stand Out Tracks: Sick Sick Sick, I'm Designer, Misfit Love, Make It Wit Chu, 3's & 7's, Run Pig Run
Velvet Revolver - Libertad
A great break from their earlier sound in Contraband, Libertad manages to blend a few more styles of rock into its formula while still maintaining to guitar heavy rock that they are known for. Only listened to the album a few times, so I can't really comment on individual tracks just yet.
Initial Impression Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Smashing Pumpkins - Zeitgeist
One of those most anticipated reunion albums in recent years, the Smashing Pumpkins (despite the exclusion of James Iha and D'Arcy or Melissa Auf der Maur) are back. The new album stays true to the framework laid down in Machina and Machina II, incorporating much heavier and straightforward songs than they had in previous albums. While the album does kind of peter out at the end, this, I would argue, is a much better use of that framework, and frontman Billy Corgan really wasn't kidding when he said he missed the band. The emotion missing from his side project Zwan and his solo career are back in full force on this new album, and I only hope this means many more years of The Smashing Pumpkins are ahead of us.
Final Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Stand Out Tracks: Doomsday Clock, Tarantula, United States, That's the Way (My Love Is)
The rest I didn't really spend a whole lot of time with, so I can really only give them star ratings based on my initial impressions.
Dream Theater - Systematic Chaos: 3 out of 5 stars
The White Stripes - Icky Thump: 4.5 out of 5 stars
And since this post is much longer than I thought it would be, I will save the other stuff (politics, law, etc) to another day, hopefully later this week. Enjoy the 4th of July!
Wednesday, June 06, 2007
Summer Politics
Well, summer is here, and with it come the worst several months for entertainment as a whole. Summer is notoriously lacking in the video game department (the only 3 I plan on purchasing are Mass Effect for the Xbox 360, Guitar Hero Encore: Rock the 80's for the PS2 and Metroid Prime 3: Corruption for the Wii), the TV season is over and the wait for the new season in October has begun. Granted, summer is the big movie season, but as far as I'm concerned, aside from Transformers, the big movies have come and gone already (Pirates 3, Spider-Man 3, etc).
So why, you ask, am I updating my seldom updated blog? Well, it is because of something that Jon Stewart has perfectly described as "Clusterfuck to the White House". That's right, the presidential primaries have me interested for the first time ever. Nearly 20 candidates are vying for the White House from just the main two parties alone, but according to the ever inane media, you would only think that there are 6 possible candidates (John Edwards, Hillary "the Devil" Clinton and Barrack Obama for the Dems and Mitt "Kerry 2" Romney, Rudy "9/11" Giuliani and John McCain for the Republicans). Predicting this race is about as hard as picking a name out of a hat, since at this point that's the only way to determine whose going to be our next President. It's really too bad that the media has already picked their front runners (and hell, they're even giving more importance to two people who aren't even officially in the goddamn race yet, Fred Thompson and Al Gore), because closely examining a field of nearly 20 candidates instead of narrowing it to the popular 6 could yield us a much more competent, intelligent and well rounded president.
Unfortunately, the absolute best candidate in the running is not getting the publicity and respect he deserves. That would be Representative Ron Paul from Texas, who is a straight up Libertarian that knows how to play the game and maximize his chances for getting elected (he realizes that the system is controlled by the Dems and Republicans, so thats why he's running as a RINO (Republican in Name Only) and not a Libertarian). He's for market freedom, legalized competition in every single aspect of life that the government currently controls, and is just an all-around intelligent man. I am very happy he was featured on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart earlier this week (and I recommend everyone seek out the episode or a clip of Representative Paul's segment), because it will get his name to the youth of America, of whom a boatload get their political information from Stewart and Stephen Colbert. I fully support this man's run to the White House, and I want to give him my full support in the Republican primary (and hopefully later in the national election).
I encourage everyone of all political leanings to pay close attention to this particular race to the White House, as the next president will more than likely define the entirety of the post-Bush United States. Ignore the media frenzy surrounding the Big 6 (as the 3 Dems and the 3 Republicans are pretty much exactly the same when it comes to the issues) and dig for information regarding the other 14 candidates. Everyone needs to get politically educated and get active. This election is too important to sit idly by and watch it happen.
So why, you ask, am I updating my seldom updated blog? Well, it is because of something that Jon Stewart has perfectly described as "Clusterfuck to the White House". That's right, the presidential primaries have me interested for the first time ever. Nearly 20 candidates are vying for the White House from just the main two parties alone, but according to the ever inane media, you would only think that there are 6 possible candidates (John Edwards, Hillary "the Devil" Clinton and Barrack Obama for the Dems and Mitt "Kerry 2" Romney, Rudy "9/11" Giuliani and John McCain for the Republicans). Predicting this race is about as hard as picking a name out of a hat, since at this point that's the only way to determine whose going to be our next President. It's really too bad that the media has already picked their front runners (and hell, they're even giving more importance to two people who aren't even officially in the goddamn race yet, Fred Thompson and Al Gore), because closely examining a field of nearly 20 candidates instead of narrowing it to the popular 6 could yield us a much more competent, intelligent and well rounded president.
Unfortunately, the absolute best candidate in the running is not getting the publicity and respect he deserves. That would be Representative Ron Paul from Texas, who is a straight up Libertarian that knows how to play the game and maximize his chances for getting elected (he realizes that the system is controlled by the Dems and Republicans, so thats why he's running as a RINO (Republican in Name Only) and not a Libertarian). He's for market freedom, legalized competition in every single aspect of life that the government currently controls, and is just an all-around intelligent man. I am very happy he was featured on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart earlier this week (and I recommend everyone seek out the episode or a clip of Representative Paul's segment), because it will get his name to the youth of America, of whom a boatload get their political information from Stewart and Stephen Colbert. I fully support this man's run to the White House, and I want to give him my full support in the Republican primary (and hopefully later in the national election).
I encourage everyone of all political leanings to pay close attention to this particular race to the White House, as the next president will more than likely define the entirety of the post-Bush United States. Ignore the media frenzy surrounding the Big 6 (as the 3 Dems and the 3 Republicans are pretty much exactly the same when it comes to the issues) and dig for information regarding the other 14 candidates. Everyone needs to get politically educated and get active. This election is too important to sit idly by and watch it happen.
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Console Wars Part 2: A Rant
Yet when it comes to gaming, Xbox 360 users are serious, Mr. Rodman says. Six out of 10 Xbox 360 users use Xbox Live, Microsoft’s online gaming service.
“We don’t feel like the Wii customer and the Xbox customer are the same thing,” he said. “We think that as soon as the Wii customer turns 14 they want something else.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/28/technology/28xbox.html?_r=1&ref=technology&oref=slogin
Well Mr. Rodman, I can safely say that I am a Wii and Xbox 360 customer, and it is statements like these that make me hate these idiots and wish I didn't buy their product. Ignore the fact that everyone, everyone's family and everyone's grandparents, aunts, uncles, friends and acquaintances are buying up the Wii at a record pace (last I checked most of those people weren't 13). I am sick and tired of Microsoft (and Sony) thinking that there is this "Elite" class of gamer out there that is going to eat up every piece of bullshit that M$ and Sony feed them, while proverbially shunning the "kiddy" Wii. Face up to the facts Micro$ony, people can (and will) enjoy multiple systems whether you fuckheads think so or not. Just a few weeks ago another Sony CEO blamed the "cheap Americans" on the PS3's lackluster numbers in the United States... he actually had the audacity to blame the consumer for not buying Sony's product. What a load of shit.
Don't get me wrong, I love my Xbox 360, my Wii and I would probably like a PS3 if I ever had any intention of buying it, but the people who run these companies just refuse to get their foots out of their mouths and their heads out of their asses (making for an awfully painful contortion, but they somehow manage it) and just own up to the fact that the Nintendo is going to kick their collective asses in console sales and stop insulting the customers who might consider another system alongside their Wii.
PSWii? Wii60? These are the most likely combinations of consoles gamers are likely to purchase, but Micro$ony can't stop and see that an alliance with Nintendo would be a better business decision than constantly picking fights with the company that is producing a cheaper, wider-reaching, more innovative gaming system that is still impossible to find, while Xbox360s and PS3s sit on the store shelves, collecting dust. PSWii or Wii60? If Microsoft and Sony have their way, it will be PS"fuck you" and Xbox"you are a dumbass if you buy anything else". Mark my words, Nintendo is going to win in console sales, and until Sony and Microsoft can finally realize that they are just going to keep alienating the gamers they are so halfheartedly trying to court.
Morons.
“We don’t feel like the Wii customer and the Xbox customer are the same thing,” he said. “We think that as soon as the Wii customer turns 14 they want something else.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/28/technology/28xbox.html?_r=1&ref=technology&oref=slogin
Well Mr. Rodman, I can safely say that I am a Wii and Xbox 360 customer, and it is statements like these that make me hate these idiots and wish I didn't buy their product. Ignore the fact that everyone, everyone's family and everyone's grandparents, aunts, uncles, friends and acquaintances are buying up the Wii at a record pace (last I checked most of those people weren't 13). I am sick and tired of Microsoft (and Sony) thinking that there is this "Elite" class of gamer out there that is going to eat up every piece of bullshit that M$ and Sony feed them, while proverbially shunning the "kiddy" Wii. Face up to the facts Micro$ony, people can (and will) enjoy multiple systems whether you fuckheads think so or not. Just a few weeks ago another Sony CEO blamed the "cheap Americans" on the PS3's lackluster numbers in the United States... he actually had the audacity to blame the consumer for not buying Sony's product. What a load of shit.
Don't get me wrong, I love my Xbox 360, my Wii and I would probably like a PS3 if I ever had any intention of buying it, but the people who run these companies just refuse to get their foots out of their mouths and their heads out of their asses (making for an awfully painful contortion, but they somehow manage it) and just own up to the fact that the Nintendo is going to kick their collective asses in console sales and stop insulting the customers who might consider another system alongside their Wii.
PSWii? Wii60? These are the most likely combinations of consoles gamers are likely to purchase, but Micro$ony can't stop and see that an alliance with Nintendo would be a better business decision than constantly picking fights with the company that is producing a cheaper, wider-reaching, more innovative gaming system that is still impossible to find, while Xbox360s and PS3s sit on the store shelves, collecting dust. PSWii or Wii60? If Microsoft and Sony have their way, it will be PS"fuck you" and Xbox"you are a dumbass if you buy anything else". Mark my words, Nintendo is going to win in console sales, and until Sony and Microsoft can finally realize that they are just going to keep alienating the gamers they are so halfheartedly trying to court.
Morons.
Monday, March 26, 2007
The Console Wars: Month 17
Long time no see... all 2 of you that read this ill-maintained blog of mine.
Nintendo's Wii and Sony's Playstation 3 have now officially been out for 5 months and have finally started cutting into Microsoft's marketshare (The Xbox 360 launched 17 months ago). The Wii has exploded onto the scene as this year’s hottest Christmas gift and Wii consoles are still impossible to find, while the PS3's sales have been struggling amid a whopping $599 price tag. The Xbox 360 still owns the market, selling almost 11 million units (Wii is at just over 5 million and PS3 is still slightly under 2 million).
This generation looks like it’s going to be a split between Nintendo and Xbox 360, with the main question still hovering over the Wii's ability to last for the duration (the next wave of consoles is expected in 2010 or 2011), but as of right now it’s still too early to tell. The PS3 started quickly, selling out the first shipment within the first hour of its release (but what new console doesn't?) and has since tapered off, mostly due to a relatively high price tag in comparison with the other two consoles and a general dislike of the console by much of the gaming community, not to mention the fact that Sony execs still refuse to own up to their own mistakes and keep sluffing the blame for everything on the consumers. Blaming the Customer, always a good way to win the hearts of the masses….However, there have been a few new developments that have the capacity to really shake things up. Microsoft is poised to keep the sales crown, with the unveiling of the Xbox 360 Elite, a black 360 with an HDMI port and a 120 GB hard drive. They stay poised to win the battle of games as well, with one of Sony’s AAA titles, Devil May Cry 4, officially going multiplatform, and rumors of a second AAA game, Final Fantasy XIII, also going the route of DMC4. Exclusive support for Sony’s console is dwindling, and other than their first party companies and a resilient Konami, most publishers are eager to put their games on multiple platforms. Ex: Capcom (DMC4), Square Enix (FFXIII), Ubisoft (Assassin’s Creed), Electronic Arts (Mercenaries 2), just to name a few of the formerly exclusive games that the PS3 has lost, not to mention Sony’s idiotic business decision last generation not to continue their exclusive contract with Take Two/Rockstar, the creators of GRAND f***ing THEFT AUTO. Gee, what could have made Sony let a franchise that sold better than any other PS2 franchise get away? Just another stupid business decision by a company plagued by stupid decision makers.
Nintendo execs, on the other hand, have been business geniuses, giving us the first system everyone and their grandmothers want to play (literally, nothing is more satisfying that seeing your 70 year old grandma own everyone else in your family at Wii Bowling). While the post-launch drought for the Wii has been pretty bad (Wario Ware: Smooth Movies, WiiPlay and SSX Blur are really the only titles we have received since launch), but upcoming games should bolster the Wii’s otherwise flaccid lineup (ba dum ching!). Super Paper Mario releases in a week, followed by summer/fall/winter releases of Nintendo-developed titles Mario Party 8, Super Mario Galaxy, Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, not to mention a myriad of other games from dev’s other than the Wii’s creator. After that, however, the future looks pretty murky for Nintendo’s “new way to play” console.
Final Sales Predictions for the 5th Generation:
Nintendo Wii: 27 million
Microsoft Xbox 360: 25 million
Sony PS3: 15 million
Sunday, August 27, 2006
Oh the Dog Days of Summer
My days at the 'Depot have finally dwindled to two, and I couldn't be happier to get out of that God-forsaken place and back into the greuling classes at the U of M. Boo Sociology and Environtmental Policies, Hooray American Political Thought and Japanese! Enough of my status, onto my Musings of the Day!
Sports:
The Twins - 5 games out of first place? Wha?! What in the bowels of hell has happened to this team? Our starting pitching staff has rotated approximately 573 players since the season began and only one is a completely reliable starter, but somehow we are 50 and 19 since the All-Star break. Morneau would be a contender for the Triple Crown if not for his dismal start, and Joe Mauer is baseball's favorite hometown hero.
The Timberwolves - Mike James + Kevin Garnett + Randy Foye = Championship? Hell no, not with Kevin McHale still at the helm of that disagrace of an organization. The slew of mistakes leading up to this season culminating in Kevin Garnett's newly found God-complex just makes me sad. The amount of squandered talent on my formerly beloved TImberwolves is astounding, and I fear for Mike James' bright future now that he has alligned himself with this organization. Management changes are sorely needed, and if the 2005-2006 season wasn't the last straw for Glenn Taylor then we can kiss our once-great Timberwolves team goodbye.
Entertainment:
The Emmys - TWENTY FOUR!!!!!!! Now that the snub-fest is over and Keifer and 24 finally have their Emmys I can quit my bitchin' about the greatest show on television getting screwed over and over and over again (4 years in a row to be exact... well, 3 if you discount that abysmal 4th season). I fear for its chances next year with the eyeball-explodingly great line-up of new shows premiering this year, including NBC's Heroes, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip and Kidnapped, CBS's Smith, Jericho and Shark and ABC's The Nine, along with continuing powerhouses like House, Lost, Rescue Me, Nip/Tuck, The Sopranos, Grey's Anatomy and Boston Legal, I believe 24's wins to be at an end, although Keifer Sutherland should still be able to acquire another acting Emmy or two.
At The Movies: Fall of 2006 - Oscar seasons beings a little early this year. Its time for a breakdown of the must-see movies for the fall of this year:
Hollywoodland - Releases on September 8th
A stellar cast including Adrien Brody, Diane Lane and Bob Hoskins should help first-time movie director Allen Coulter's crime drama about the murder of "Superman" actor George Reeves. Hype for this film is high, despite the fact that Ben Affleck is one of the top-billed actors.
Excitement level: 2.5 out of 5
The Black Dahlia - Releases on September 15th
Brian de Palma, director of crime classics such as Scarface, The Untouchables and Carlito's Way, at the helm of a James Ellroy (the writer of L.A. Confidential) story? What more can a movie aficionado ask for? Oh, I seem to have forgetten the absolutely amazing cast consisting of Josh Hartnett, Aaron Eckhart, Hillary Swank, Mia Kirshner and Scarlett Johansson. Here's hoping the explosion of young talent in veteran de Palma's hands helps make this crime thriller a future classic.
Excitement level: 5 out of 5
The Departed - Releases on October 6th
Martin Scorsese directs Jack Nicholson, Leo Dicaprio, Mark Wahlberg, Matt Damon, Martin Sheen and Alec Baldwin in this undercover crime thriller. Scorsese's resume should automatically ignite fierce hype for this film, but its the addition of the superb ensemble cast that is going to truly make this film great.
Excitement Level: 4 out of 5
The Prestige - Releases on October 27th
Christopher Nolan (or as I like to call him, "The Man Who Can Do No Wrong"), director of the wildly entertaining and amazing films Batman Begins, Memento and Insomnia, is helming this drama set amongst competing stage magicians in the 1870's. Nolan, a directing genious and who I believe is destined to be remembered as one of the greatest film makers of all time, has assembled yet another great cast, including Christain Bale, Hugh Jackman, Scarlet Johansson, Michael Caine and, yes, David Bowie. This is a film that ought to keep even the most astute of viewiers guessing and should prove to be one of the best films of the year.
Excitement level: 4.5 out of 5
A Good Year - Releases on November 10th
Ridley Scott directing a romance film with Russel Crowe? I am there. Ridley Scott's venture into new territory is enough to get me excited about this film that follows a New York business man who inherits a family property in Provence.
Excitement level: 2.5 out of 5
Casino Royale - Releases on November 17th
The fact that this is a new Bond film already ups the excitement level, but the casting of Daniel Craig as James Bond and the return of director Martin Campbell (director of the greatest Bond film, Goldeneye) pushes my excitement to all new heights. This return-to-the-roots Bond film ought to bring a lost glory back into the series and revitalize it for many years to come.
Excitement level: 4.5 out of 5
Babel - Releases on November 17th
Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu directs this film following three seperate stories taking place in Japan, Morocco, Tunisia and Mexico. Inarritu is an amazing visual director (showcased in 21 Grams and Amores Perros) and he loves weaving his complex story webs. Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett star, leaving Inarritu little work in the actor-directing category. My understanding is that language barriers will have a huge impact on the events of the story, which intrigues me fully.
Excitement level: 4 out of 5
And to close, some quick ratings for my most recently viewed films:
Snakes on a Plane - 6.5 out of 10
Silent Hill - 6.5 out of 10
Miami Vice - 7.5 out of 10
Lady in the Water - 7.5 out of 10
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest - 8.5 out of 10
Superman Returns - 4 out of 10
These musings would normally be much more varied in their content but since I have made this post ridiculously long I will end here. Goodnight and farewell.
- Maverick
Sports:
The Twins - 5 games out of first place? Wha?! What in the bowels of hell has happened to this team? Our starting pitching staff has rotated approximately 573 players since the season began and only one is a completely reliable starter, but somehow we are 50 and 19 since the All-Star break. Morneau would be a contender for the Triple Crown if not for his dismal start, and Joe Mauer is baseball's favorite hometown hero.
The Timberwolves - Mike James + Kevin Garnett + Randy Foye = Championship? Hell no, not with Kevin McHale still at the helm of that disagrace of an organization. The slew of mistakes leading up to this season culminating in Kevin Garnett's newly found God-complex just makes me sad. The amount of squandered talent on my formerly beloved TImberwolves is astounding, and I fear for Mike James' bright future now that he has alligned himself with this organization. Management changes are sorely needed, and if the 2005-2006 season wasn't the last straw for Glenn Taylor then we can kiss our once-great Timberwolves team goodbye.
Entertainment:
The Emmys - TWENTY FOUR!!!!!!! Now that the snub-fest is over and Keifer and 24 finally have their Emmys I can quit my bitchin' about the greatest show on television getting screwed over and over and over again (4 years in a row to be exact... well, 3 if you discount that abysmal 4th season). I fear for its chances next year with the eyeball-explodingly great line-up of new shows premiering this year, including NBC's Heroes, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip and Kidnapped, CBS's Smith, Jericho and Shark and ABC's The Nine, along with continuing powerhouses like House, Lost, Rescue Me, Nip/Tuck, The Sopranos, Grey's Anatomy and Boston Legal, I believe 24's wins to be at an end, although Keifer Sutherland should still be able to acquire another acting Emmy or two.
At The Movies: Fall of 2006 - Oscar seasons beings a little early this year. Its time for a breakdown of the must-see movies for the fall of this year:
Hollywoodland - Releases on September 8th
A stellar cast including Adrien Brody, Diane Lane and Bob Hoskins should help first-time movie director Allen Coulter's crime drama about the murder of "Superman" actor George Reeves. Hype for this film is high, despite the fact that Ben Affleck is one of the top-billed actors.
Excitement level: 2.5 out of 5
The Black Dahlia - Releases on September 15th
Brian de Palma, director of crime classics such as Scarface, The Untouchables and Carlito's Way, at the helm of a James Ellroy (the writer of L.A. Confidential) story? What more can a movie aficionado ask for? Oh, I seem to have forgetten the absolutely amazing cast consisting of Josh Hartnett, Aaron Eckhart, Hillary Swank, Mia Kirshner and Scarlett Johansson. Here's hoping the explosion of young talent in veteran de Palma's hands helps make this crime thriller a future classic.
Excitement level: 5 out of 5
The Departed - Releases on October 6th
Martin Scorsese directs Jack Nicholson, Leo Dicaprio, Mark Wahlberg, Matt Damon, Martin Sheen and Alec Baldwin in this undercover crime thriller. Scorsese's resume should automatically ignite fierce hype for this film, but its the addition of the superb ensemble cast that is going to truly make this film great.
Excitement Level: 4 out of 5
The Prestige - Releases on October 27th
Christopher Nolan (or as I like to call him, "The Man Who Can Do No Wrong"), director of the wildly entertaining and amazing films Batman Begins, Memento and Insomnia, is helming this drama set amongst competing stage magicians in the 1870's. Nolan, a directing genious and who I believe is destined to be remembered as one of the greatest film makers of all time, has assembled yet another great cast, including Christain Bale, Hugh Jackman, Scarlet Johansson, Michael Caine and, yes, David Bowie. This is a film that ought to keep even the most astute of viewiers guessing and should prove to be one of the best films of the year.
Excitement level: 4.5 out of 5
A Good Year - Releases on November 10th
Ridley Scott directing a romance film with Russel Crowe? I am there. Ridley Scott's venture into new territory is enough to get me excited about this film that follows a New York business man who inherits a family property in Provence.
Excitement level: 2.5 out of 5
Casino Royale - Releases on November 17th
The fact that this is a new Bond film already ups the excitement level, but the casting of Daniel Craig as James Bond and the return of director Martin Campbell (director of the greatest Bond film, Goldeneye) pushes my excitement to all new heights. This return-to-the-roots Bond film ought to bring a lost glory back into the series and revitalize it for many years to come.
Excitement level: 4.5 out of 5
Babel - Releases on November 17th
Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu directs this film following three seperate stories taking place in Japan, Morocco, Tunisia and Mexico. Inarritu is an amazing visual director (showcased in 21 Grams and Amores Perros) and he loves weaving his complex story webs. Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett star, leaving Inarritu little work in the actor-directing category. My understanding is that language barriers will have a huge impact on the events of the story, which intrigues me fully.
Excitement level: 4 out of 5
And to close, some quick ratings for my most recently viewed films:
Snakes on a Plane - 6.5 out of 10
Silent Hill - 6.5 out of 10
Miami Vice - 7.5 out of 10
Lady in the Water - 7.5 out of 10
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest - 8.5 out of 10
Superman Returns - 4 out of 10
These musings would normally be much more varied in their content but since I have made this post ridiculously long I will end here. Goodnight and farewell.
- Maverick
Thursday, August 24, 2006
It has begun....
Well everyone, this is my first adventure into the blogging world, and I must say I am pretty excited to get started. The posting will be very random and sporadic, so don't expect updates every day. Before anyone asks, the blog is named after a short-lived 3-man paintball team named the Whirlwind of Doom. Maverick was my callsign, and my teammates were Mark Zeitler (Iceman) and Peter Shuneman (Hollywood). . . and if you haven't been able to tell, yes we named ourselves after the characters from Top Gun.
Come prepared to discuss a myriad of topics; nothing is off limits (well, not everything... lets just say if you want to talk about stupid shit it better be damn funny.
Happy Blogging everyone!
Come prepared to discuss a myriad of topics; nothing is off limits (well, not everything... lets just say if you want to talk about stupid shit it better be damn funny.
Happy Blogging everyone!
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