First off, happy Halloween everyone!
Now with that out of the way, let me vent for a second. There were a couple of items I wanted to post on today and in looking for the videos that I wanted to include I came up empty. I think I may be losing my touch. Normally, I can find the videos I'm looking for within a heartbeat.
The first one I wanted was to recognize the passing of Robert Goulet. I was going to include his performance of "O Canada" from Wrestlemania VI, but that is nowhere to be found. I had no problem finding Reba McIntire singing America the Beautiful at Wrestlemania VIII, but there was no love for Goulet. So instead, here's a clip of one of Will Ferrell's hilarious performances as Goulet.
Then, I wanted to make a Halloween post and include the awesome commercial from Reaper that had Ray Wise's Devil dancing in a graveyard to the tune of "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year". No such luck again. Not only was it not on YouTube or any other video hosting site, but the CW didn't even have it on their own homepage. Way to drop the ball CW! A show like this could use a little bit more publicity. BTW, last night's episode may have been my favorite. I loved the idea of Hell shutting down on Halloween and I think Patton Oswalt's Leon needs to be a recurring character. So anyway, since the CW is being their typical clueless, unorganized self, here's a classic Halloween clip from The Office to celebrate All Hallows Eve.
If anyone happens to stumble on the clips I wanted, feel free to send me the links.
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Could The Office be expanding??
From TV Guide.com:
"If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, NBC may be about to pay a major compliment to Grey's Anatomy. Multiple sources confirm to me exclusively that the Peacock is developing an episode of The Office that would introduce several new characters who would then be spun off into a new series à la Private Practice.
However, unlike Practice, which stole Grey's regular Kate Walsh to anchor the new series, the proposed Office 2 is not expected to include any of the mother ship's core cast. In fact, producers are already casting about for a "name" to headline the potential show."
If the show is distinctly different from The Office it has a chance of working. But if this is just going to be The Office: Utica, I don't see the worth in doing this.
"If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, NBC may be about to pay a major compliment to Grey's Anatomy. Multiple sources confirm to me exclusively that the Peacock is developing an episode of The Office that would introduce several new characters who would then be spun off into a new series à la Private Practice.
However, unlike Practice, which stole Grey's regular Kate Walsh to anchor the new series, the proposed Office 2 is not expected to include any of the mother ship's core cast. In fact, producers are already casting about for a "name" to headline the potential show."
If the show is distinctly different from The Office it has a chance of working. But if this is just going to be The Office: Utica, I don't see the worth in doing this.
Sunday, October 28, 2007
Mr. Perfect 2.0
I don't make much time for wrestling anymore (a combo of my busy life, a lack of major stars and their lazy storytelling), but when I read this in the Smackdown spoilers, I had to check it out. It's a jobber match with some worthless new tag team, but one of the jobbers just happens to be Mr. Perfect's son, Joe Hennig. He's only seen for a few seconds, but since he wears his dad's ring gear, you'll immediately recognize him. Looks like he inherited his dad's awesome bumping skills.
Thursday, October 25, 2007
RIP Jin???
Lost curse strikes again! Kim dinged for DUI
Given the track record of Lost stars who have been arrested for driving violations (Libby, Ana Lucia, Mr. Eko) could this mean the death of Sun's hubby? If I were Daniel Dae Kim right now, I'd be working on my resume.
Given the track record of Lost stars who have been arrested for driving violations (Libby, Ana Lucia, Mr. Eko) could this mean the death of Sun's hubby? If I were Daniel Dae Kim right now, I'd be working on my resume.
Trailer for new season of 24
Sure, last season of 24 was vastly underwhelming; so much so that it ended up turning off a lot of people on the show altogether. But hope springs eternal for me and after watching this trailer, I believe this show has the ability to fix itself. There are making a lot of changes (No CTU, the return of Tony, etc.) which we all hope are for the better. This appears to be the make-or-break season for 24, which is a weird thing to say considering it's their 7th season. Take a look for yourself and see what you think...
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Drew review
So we're a little over a week into the Carey era on The Price is Right and things are looking good thus far. Everyone will agree that he's no Bob Barker, but, in some ways, that's a good thing. I think for the livelihood of the show, Drew needs to find ways to make it his own. Trying to mimic Bob in style and mannerisms is only going to draw unfair criticisms.
It's been a little tough to truly gauge how well Drew is doing so far because they've been airing the episodes out of taping order. And it's become noticeable the difference between the shows he did in the first week and the ones he did a month into the job. The good news is that Drew has shown considerable improvement in the episodes that were taped more recently.
Drew's strength thus far has been his people skills. He comes off as an everyman and makes contestant feel very comfortable. At times, Bob was all about business, so it's nice to see Drew take the time to get to know the contestants a little bit more. Drew is also very funny and provides a lot of good one liners. Some may look at his jokes as disrespectful, but I enjoy the type of snark that he's brought to the show.
As far as weaknesses go, he still needs to work more on building drama with the games. When it comes time to reveal whether the contestant has won or not, he rushes through it and sometimes the player doesn't realize that they've actually won. He also tends to over-explain the rules of the games, but I have a feeling that will lessen in the coming weeks as he becomes more familiar with the games himself.
Given that there have only been a few episodes aired, Drew gets an Incomplete grade right now, but from what I have seen, I have hope that he'll be able to continue the tradition of America's favorite game show for a long time to come.
It's been a little tough to truly gauge how well Drew is doing so far because they've been airing the episodes out of taping order. And it's become noticeable the difference between the shows he did in the first week and the ones he did a month into the job. The good news is that Drew has shown considerable improvement in the episodes that were taped more recently.
Drew's strength thus far has been his people skills. He comes off as an everyman and makes contestant feel very comfortable. At times, Bob was all about business, so it's nice to see Drew take the time to get to know the contestants a little bit more. Drew is also very funny and provides a lot of good one liners. Some may look at his jokes as disrespectful, but I enjoy the type of snark that he's brought to the show.
As far as weaknesses go, he still needs to work more on building drama with the games. When it comes time to reveal whether the contestant has won or not, he rushes through it and sometimes the player doesn't realize that they've actually won. He also tends to over-explain the rules of the games, but I have a feeling that will lessen in the coming weeks as he becomes more familiar with the games himself.
Given that there have only been a few episodes aired, Drew gets an Incomplete grade right now, but from what I have seen, I have hope that he'll be able to continue the tradition of America's favorite game show for a long time to come.
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Viva Laughlin the bell tolls for thee
Well that certainly didn't take long. After just two episodes the musical/drama/disaster Viva Laughlin was cancelled by CBS, making it the first TV casuality of the new fall season (and no, neither FOX's Nashville nor CW's Online Nation count. I mention this news not because I take glee out of their failure (although it is interesting to see once again that CBS only fails when it tries to think outside the box), but because starting Nov. 4 Viva Laughlin's time slot will be filled with the return of The Amazing Race!! From the news piece I read, some of the new countries the racers will be stopping in this season will be Ireland, Lithuania, and Croatia. Hard to believe this is the 12th edition of this show and they're just now visiting Ireland.
Monday, October 22, 2007
And now begins the long winter wait
***Before I begin the post, I just want to say that this is about the 5th post I've made today, so make sure you keep reading all the way down to read everything new that's going on with me.***
So last night the choke job by my Cleveland Indians was completed as the 'Sawks' pounded on us once again. I'm not sure if it makes me happier or more depressed that the Tribe kept the game close until about the 7th inning when things just fell apart. It would be easy to pinpoint our failure to go to the World Series on one individual, but really it was collective effort. There were multiple people who just couldn't deliver when the team relied on them.
Now as the off season begins, it'll be interesting to see where this team goes. On one hand, you could say that making it as far as we did would indicate we're just a tweak or two away from getting to the World Series. But given that we had many people underperform in these last few games makes you wonder if they should remain an integral part of the team. In general, I'm trying to stay as optimistic as possible. I truely believe that we have a solid nucleus of talent that we can continue to build around. And as disappointed as I am in us losing, I can't deny that the Tribe gave me and the rest of the city a lot of wonderful memories this season.
Still it's tough to watch Cleveland come so close to winning a championship again only to come up a little short. If you feel our pain, you're more than welcome to send sympathy cards and letters and/or donations to the "Wait 'Til Next Year" fund, in care of Adam Gutschmidt. Any submissions are appreciated.
So last night the choke job by my Cleveland Indians was completed as the 'Sawks' pounded on us once again. I'm not sure if it makes me happier or more depressed that the Tribe kept the game close until about the 7th inning when things just fell apart. It would be easy to pinpoint our failure to go to the World Series on one individual, but really it was collective effort. There were multiple people who just couldn't deliver when the team relied on them.
Now as the off season begins, it'll be interesting to see where this team goes. On one hand, you could say that making it as far as we did would indicate we're just a tweak or two away from getting to the World Series. But given that we had many people underperform in these last few games makes you wonder if they should remain an integral part of the team. In general, I'm trying to stay as optimistic as possible. I truely believe that we have a solid nucleus of talent that we can continue to build around. And as disappointed as I am in us losing, I can't deny that the Tribe gave me and the rest of the city a lot of wonderful memories this season.
Still it's tough to watch Cleveland come so close to winning a championship again only to come up a little short. If you feel our pain, you're more than welcome to send sympathy cards and letters and/or donations to the "Wait 'Til Next Year" fund, in care of Adam Gutschmidt. Any submissions are appreciated.
A fair to remember
The state fair was in town this week and I was able to go over the weekend with some of my friends and attend the festivities. This was my second time there since moving to NC and once again it was quite the cultural experience.
Now I've been to the city carnival many times when I was young and this is basically the same thing, only on a much grander scale. I still find it funny how there are so many people who attend the fair as if it was some big deal. You see the trailer park trash all dressed up as if this was the prom or something. Personally I wanted to burn my clothes after going there after being around all the farm animals and the litter that is strewn throughout the midway.
The day I went, the place was absolutely packed. That might have had to do something with the fact that Daughtry was performing there that day, but from what my friends tell me, it's always that full.
But the highlight for me every year is to see what new heart attack inducing foods they are selling each year. Beyond your typical elephant ears and corn dogs, the NC State Fair food vendors provide people with just about everything in a deep-fried format. Some of the traditional favorites are deep-fried Oreos, Twinkies, and cheeseburgers. Last year, they introduced deep fried Coke. And this year, they added deep fried Reese's peanut butter cups and deep fried peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Personally, I tried to stay as healthy as possible and only bought the fried apples.
Now I've been to the city carnival many times when I was young and this is basically the same thing, only on a much grander scale. I still find it funny how there are so many people who attend the fair as if it was some big deal. You see the trailer park trash all dressed up as if this was the prom or something. Personally I wanted to burn my clothes after going there after being around all the farm animals and the litter that is strewn throughout the midway.
The day I went, the place was absolutely packed. That might have had to do something with the fact that Daughtry was performing there that day, but from what my friends tell me, it's always that full.
But the highlight for me every year is to see what new heart attack inducing foods they are selling each year. Beyond your typical elephant ears and corn dogs, the NC State Fair food vendors provide people with just about everything in a deep-fried format. Some of the traditional favorites are deep-fried Oreos, Twinkies, and cheeseburgers. Last year, they introduced deep fried Coke. And this year, they added deep fried Reese's peanut butter cups and deep fried peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Personally, I tried to stay as healthy as possible and only bought the fried apples.
Cerebral and Anti-cerebral
With no baseball on Friday night, I managed to watch a pair of movies that had initially slipped through the cracks when they were originally released.
First, PBS aired the documentary Wordplay, which looks at crossword puzzles and the people addicted to them. Being a puzzler myself, I found a lot of the content to be fascinating. I also got caught up in the "drama" of the crossword tournament finals that served as the climax of the film. Whether intentional or not, I thought the film clearly created some heroes and villains amongst those participating in the tournament, which made it even more thrilling to watch how it would play out. My only complaint about the film is that I wish it would have either completely focused on the tournament or on those obsessed with doing crossword puzzles. Watching segments involving celebrities like Jon Stewart and Bill Clinton talk about their love for crosswords interspersed throughout the events of the tournament made it seem like they didn't have enough content to do a full movie on one aspect or the other.
Then after watching such an intelligent and provocative film, I went to the other side of the spectrum and watched Michael Bay's The Island. A quick backstory before talking about the film. I had a mild interest in this film when it came out in 2005. I ended up ordering it on demand after it came out on DVD and recorded it on DVD. After recording it, I tried on two or three different occassions to watch it and fell asleep each time about twenty minutes in. So I finally made it through the whole thing this time only to learn that there had been some problem with my cable when I recorded it and it didn't show the last 10 minutes of the film. Had the film been better, I would have been pissed. As it was, this was a disappointing failure. The first half hour of the film makes it seem like this is going to be an interesting science fiction film that is going to make some statements on our current culture as well. But after that, the film devolves into a silly, noisy chase film involving characters that we don't really care enough about. Given how the film was going, I didn't need to see the last 10 minutes to figure out where it was going. Thumbs down for me on this one.
First, PBS aired the documentary Wordplay, which looks at crossword puzzles and the people addicted to them. Being a puzzler myself, I found a lot of the content to be fascinating. I also got caught up in the "drama" of the crossword tournament finals that served as the climax of the film. Whether intentional or not, I thought the film clearly created some heroes and villains amongst those participating in the tournament, which made it even more thrilling to watch how it would play out. My only complaint about the film is that I wish it would have either completely focused on the tournament or on those obsessed with doing crossword puzzles. Watching segments involving celebrities like Jon Stewart and Bill Clinton talk about their love for crosswords interspersed throughout the events of the tournament made it seem like they didn't have enough content to do a full movie on one aspect or the other.
Then after watching such an intelligent and provocative film, I went to the other side of the spectrum and watched Michael Bay's The Island. A quick backstory before talking about the film. I had a mild interest in this film when it came out in 2005. I ended up ordering it on demand after it came out on DVD and recorded it on DVD. After recording it, I tried on two or three different occassions to watch it and fell asleep each time about twenty minutes in. So I finally made it through the whole thing this time only to learn that there had been some problem with my cable when I recorded it and it didn't show the last 10 minutes of the film. Had the film been better, I would have been pissed. As it was, this was a disappointing failure. The first half hour of the film makes it seem like this is going to be an interesting science fiction film that is going to make some statements on our current culture as well. But after that, the film devolves into a silly, noisy chase film involving characters that we don't really care enough about. Given how the film was going, I didn't need to see the last 10 minutes to figure out where it was going. Thumbs down for me on this one.
Quick TV roundup
Before we start another week of TV, let me quickly recap the highlights from last week and point out some questions that I'm left wondering about.
Heroes: Was last week a rerun, because it sure felt like I had seen all of that before. This show needs to get out of its creative rut in a hurry. Season 2, thus far, is severely lacking any focus and needs to create some sort of unifying mission for our heroes. I can only stand so many weeks of the Wonder twins temporarily killing people with Maya's crying power as they endlessly travel through Mexico. BTW, anyone else think that Parkman's dad (aka the Boogeyman) is NOT the one that through Mr. Nakamura off the roof?
Chuck: The show is finally getting its footing now that Chuck is going on missions. I loved his attempts to stop the "Wookie" from selling the diamond. I also enjoyed the various Bond references sprinkled throughout the episode. My gut is also telling me that we haven't seen the last from Katrina. Making her a recurring character could make for some interesting storylines. Speaking of recurring characters, we need more of the Nerd Herd!
Journeyman: I wish I could travel forward in time to figure out when we're going to get any sense of what's going on with Dan's ability. That way I would know whether to stop wasting my time with this show or not.
How I Met Your Mother and Aliens in America: Each of these episodes had their laughs, but were far from standout episodes. Now pressing issues with either of them. I mainly include them here as a way to promote other people to start watching them.
House: N/A due to baseball playoffs.
Reaper: Another fun episode that yielded a lot of laughs but still failed to break out of its formula. On one hand, the formula works, so I can't be too mad at them. Still, variety is the spice of life and this show could use to show that it at least has the ability to change things up once in a while. The Devil was still awesome this week, but we also saw that he knows how to perfectly get what he wants when someone tries to defy him.
Back to You: The initial problems with this show remain. The comedic talent on this show continue to be weighed down by the awful characters surrounding them. Like Journeyman, this show is on borrowed time.
Survivor: Only saw parts of it while flipping between it and the ball game. From the commercials, I figured each tribe would just steal the other's best players and for the most part I was right. Not sure how Sherea got chosen though. Also, how foolish of Zhan Hu to think they would just be stealing from the other tribe and not have to give anything in return. Idiots. They continued to show their intellectual ineptitude by throwing a challenge. Actually, I sort of see their rationale, but the way they went about it was all wrong. Plus, karma always has a way of getting revenge on people like this who try to throw challenges. Despite the remaining Zhan Hu thinking everything went according to plan, I don't see this having a big impact...yet. Aaron is no great loss and Fei Long still remains a strong threat even without him. This week it looks like someone will discover the hidden immunity. Given the way this season has played out, I wonder how long it will take before they tell the rest of the tribe that they found it.
CSI: Didn't watch because of the ball game. Anyone want to tell me if Sara accepted Grissom's marriage proposal?
My Name is Earl and 30 Rock: Of these two, 30 Rock was the clear winner this week. I get what Earl was trying to do with its creative writing episode, but it just felt a little flat to me. On 30 Rock, none of the three primarily storylines were really advanced, but they continued to deliver some LOL moments while telling them.
The Office: I'm so torn on this week's episode as I thought it was really well done but severely was lacking in the humor dept. Given the storylines they're dealing with right now, I suppose the somber tone was appropriate, but I wish they would go back to having more fun in the office. I may have said it before, but they really have entered into this parallel universe where Jim and Pam are happy and in love and everyone else is miserable. As much as I don't want to see anything ruin PB and J's relationship, I want Michael and Dwight back to their old selves as well. It should be interesting to see how much things change, including my opinions on the season, now that they go back to half hour episodes this week.
Heroes: Was last week a rerun, because it sure felt like I had seen all of that before. This show needs to get out of its creative rut in a hurry. Season 2, thus far, is severely lacking any focus and needs to create some sort of unifying mission for our heroes. I can only stand so many weeks of the Wonder twins temporarily killing people with Maya's crying power as they endlessly travel through Mexico. BTW, anyone else think that Parkman's dad (aka the Boogeyman) is NOT the one that through Mr. Nakamura off the roof?
Chuck: The show is finally getting its footing now that Chuck is going on missions. I loved his attempts to stop the "Wookie" from selling the diamond. I also enjoyed the various Bond references sprinkled throughout the episode. My gut is also telling me that we haven't seen the last from Katrina. Making her a recurring character could make for some interesting storylines. Speaking of recurring characters, we need more of the Nerd Herd!
Journeyman: I wish I could travel forward in time to figure out when we're going to get any sense of what's going on with Dan's ability. That way I would know whether to stop wasting my time with this show or not.
How I Met Your Mother and Aliens in America: Each of these episodes had their laughs, but were far from standout episodes. Now pressing issues with either of them. I mainly include them here as a way to promote other people to start watching them.
House: N/A due to baseball playoffs.
Reaper: Another fun episode that yielded a lot of laughs but still failed to break out of its formula. On one hand, the formula works, so I can't be too mad at them. Still, variety is the spice of life and this show could use to show that it at least has the ability to change things up once in a while. The Devil was still awesome this week, but we also saw that he knows how to perfectly get what he wants when someone tries to defy him.
Back to You: The initial problems with this show remain. The comedic talent on this show continue to be weighed down by the awful characters surrounding them. Like Journeyman, this show is on borrowed time.
Survivor: Only saw parts of it while flipping between it and the ball game. From the commercials, I figured each tribe would just steal the other's best players and for the most part I was right. Not sure how Sherea got chosen though. Also, how foolish of Zhan Hu to think they would just be stealing from the other tribe and not have to give anything in return. Idiots. They continued to show their intellectual ineptitude by throwing a challenge. Actually, I sort of see their rationale, but the way they went about it was all wrong. Plus, karma always has a way of getting revenge on people like this who try to throw challenges. Despite the remaining Zhan Hu thinking everything went according to plan, I don't see this having a big impact...yet. Aaron is no great loss and Fei Long still remains a strong threat even without him. This week it looks like someone will discover the hidden immunity. Given the way this season has played out, I wonder how long it will take before they tell the rest of the tribe that they found it.
CSI: Didn't watch because of the ball game. Anyone want to tell me if Sara accepted Grissom's marriage proposal?
My Name is Earl and 30 Rock: Of these two, 30 Rock was the clear winner this week. I get what Earl was trying to do with its creative writing episode, but it just felt a little flat to me. On 30 Rock, none of the three primarily storylines were really advanced, but they continued to deliver some LOL moments while telling them.
The Office: I'm so torn on this week's episode as I thought it was really well done but severely was lacking in the humor dept. Given the storylines they're dealing with right now, I suppose the somber tone was appropriate, but I wish they would go back to having more fun in the office. I may have said it before, but they really have entered into this parallel universe where Jim and Pam are happy and in love and everyone else is miserable. As much as I don't want to see anything ruin PB and J's relationship, I want Michael and Dwight back to their old selves as well. It should be interesting to see how much things change, including my opinions on the season, now that they go back to half hour episodes this week.
Looks like the Goblet of Fire wasn't the only thing that was flaming
So over the weekend, Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling revealed an interesting bit of information about Hogwarts' headmaster:
"At a Friday night appearance at Carnegie Hall, Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling confirmed that which many fans had suspected: Albus' wand leans the other way. According to the AP, during a question-and-answer following a brief Deathly Hallows reading, Rowling responded to a query about Hogwarts' headmaster finding true love by saying, "Dumbledore is gay." The writer proceeded to elaborate that Dumbledore was smitten with Gellert Grindelwald, whom he defeated long ago in a battle. Upon seeing his good friend go bad, she says, Dumbledore was "horribly, terribly let down."
OK, what?!? I mean, what purpose does this serve? First of all, who are these moron fans that are asking about Dumbledore's love life? You have one opportunity to ask this woman anything about the rich world she's created and that's what you want to know? Second, what good does it do to reveal this now after the fact? All it does is rile up the homophobes who don't want to hear that and it certainly doesn't appease those in favor of it because she was too gutless to add that aspect into the actual books. This was definiely something that deserved to be left to readers' imagination rather than revealed in such an frivolous manner.
"At a Friday night appearance at Carnegie Hall, Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling confirmed that which many fans had suspected: Albus' wand leans the other way. According to the AP, during a question-and-answer following a brief Deathly Hallows reading, Rowling responded to a query about Hogwarts' headmaster finding true love by saying, "Dumbledore is gay." The writer proceeded to elaborate that Dumbledore was smitten with Gellert Grindelwald, whom he defeated long ago in a battle. Upon seeing his good friend go bad, she says, Dumbledore was "horribly, terribly let down."
OK, what?!? I mean, what purpose does this serve? First of all, who are these moron fans that are asking about Dumbledore's love life? You have one opportunity to ask this woman anything about the rich world she's created and that's what you want to know? Second, what good does it do to reveal this now after the fact? All it does is rile up the homophobes who don't want to hear that and it certainly doesn't appease those in favor of it because she was too gutless to add that aspect into the actual books. This was definiely something that deserved to be left to readers' imagination rather than revealed in such an frivolous manner.
Saturday, October 13, 2007
Transformercial
As my fall break continues, I saw the last of the big summer films today, Transformers. There are a number of reasons why this one was the last one I got too. 1) The project initially didn't interest me as I never was a fan of the toys growing up; I was a GoBots man, myself. 2) Seeing Michael Bay's name attached to it didn't give me much hope that this was going to be a cinematic masterpiece. 3) I got increasingly annoyed at the amount of publicity the film was getting; the MTV Movie Awards basically became one long commercial for the film. 4) I've never thought much of Shia LeBeouf as an actor.
Despite all those reasons, I went into the film with an open mind. After all, the film made a lot of money and I read/heard a lot of people say they thought it was really good. The general consensus was that the film was a lot of fun with kick-ass action. Unfortunately, I ended up not being able to share in that belief. For whatever reason, I just couldn't turn off my brain and enjoy it. There were too many things in the film that I found annoying.
First, was the amount of commercialization within the film, hence the title of my post. Now this film is not the first to have gratuitous product placement, but here, every scene seemed to include a brand name of some product, and a lot of times they had nothing to do with the scene. Off the top of my head I saw plugs for GMC, Cadillac, Burger King, Mountain Dew, Apple, Xbox, My Little Pony, Furby, and Wells Fargo. I'm sure I'm missing something too. Seeing these things pop up constantly became annoying after a while.
Then there was the liberties Michael Bay took with time throughout the film. In one scene it would be morning and then the next it would be pitch black and there is no context given for what happened over the course of that time. Bay just sets up action sequence after action sequence without doing a proper job of placing them in a logical or clear setting.
Shia LeBeouf also continued his streak of grating performances in my book here. He seemingly plays the same character in every film; this smarmy, rapid talked that wants you to think he's humble and just a kid, yet comes off as cocky and arrogant. Frankly though, all of the human characters came off as unlikeable to me. And a lot of them had characterization that just confused me; like John Tuturro's comedic hardass. He gets introduced halfway through the film and you're completely confused as to what his motivations are and why he's being so difficult. About halfway through the film, I was starting to think that the Autobots should just let the Decepticons destroy the planet. If these are the people representing us, perhaps we need to start over.
In addition to the confusing characters, you also had scenes that left me scratching my head too. The whole scene involving Sam looking for his glasses and being interrupted by his parents was terrible. First off, the Autobots were annoyingly impatient with Sam as he looked for the glasses. Then I found it hard to believe that these huge machines are walking around in Sam's backyard yet NO ONE seems to notice. Then there's the awkward dialogue between Sam and his parents about what he was doing in his bedroom that goes nowhere. The other scene I found troubling was the final climatic battle between the Transformers. There is all these explosions and destruction going on, yet there are constantly people wandering in the street amongst this carnage. After the first explosion, wouldn't these people find shelter or run away. I'm watching this and thinking "What are these people still doing here?"
Speaking of the final climatic battle, I was hoping this was going to be the film's saving grace. After the first 3/4 of the film was focused too heavily on the humans, I thought that I would at least get an awesome battle to close things out. Yet, even this wasn't as good as I would have liked. I think a part of the problem was that it was too difficult to discern who was fighting. Perhaps with a better knowledge of the characters, this may not have been a problem. But for me, it just seemed like two hunks of metal wrestling each other. I could never tell who had the advantage. Then the whole thing ends with a thud with Sam sticking the cube inside of Megatron. I wouldn't have had as big of a problem with that, if that solution had been posed earlier in the film. Instead, they Optimus kept harping on how he would have to absorb the cube in order to save everyone. Why should he kill himself when sticking it in Megatron was clearly a better solution?
Perhaps I am overanalyzing a film that isn't meant to be nitpicked. Unfortunately the film's flaws were just too glaring to me. I think a good comparison would be the new Die Hard film that came out this summer. It too had a lot of action and ridiculous stunts that require a suspension of belief. However, the difference between the two is that I had a lot of fun with that one and Transformers just left me with a big headache. I am glad there are those out there who enjoyed this, but I thought the film simply did not provide more than meets the eye. Grade: C+
Despite all those reasons, I went into the film with an open mind. After all, the film made a lot of money and I read/heard a lot of people say they thought it was really good. The general consensus was that the film was a lot of fun with kick-ass action. Unfortunately, I ended up not being able to share in that belief. For whatever reason, I just couldn't turn off my brain and enjoy it. There were too many things in the film that I found annoying.
First, was the amount of commercialization within the film, hence the title of my post. Now this film is not the first to have gratuitous product placement, but here, every scene seemed to include a brand name of some product, and a lot of times they had nothing to do with the scene. Off the top of my head I saw plugs for GMC, Cadillac, Burger King, Mountain Dew, Apple, Xbox, My Little Pony, Furby, and Wells Fargo. I'm sure I'm missing something too. Seeing these things pop up constantly became annoying after a while.
Then there was the liberties Michael Bay took with time throughout the film. In one scene it would be morning and then the next it would be pitch black and there is no context given for what happened over the course of that time. Bay just sets up action sequence after action sequence without doing a proper job of placing them in a logical or clear setting.
Shia LeBeouf also continued his streak of grating performances in my book here. He seemingly plays the same character in every film; this smarmy, rapid talked that wants you to think he's humble and just a kid, yet comes off as cocky and arrogant. Frankly though, all of the human characters came off as unlikeable to me. And a lot of them had characterization that just confused me; like John Tuturro's comedic hardass. He gets introduced halfway through the film and you're completely confused as to what his motivations are and why he's being so difficult. About halfway through the film, I was starting to think that the Autobots should just let the Decepticons destroy the planet. If these are the people representing us, perhaps we need to start over.
In addition to the confusing characters, you also had scenes that left me scratching my head too. The whole scene involving Sam looking for his glasses and being interrupted by his parents was terrible. First off, the Autobots were annoyingly impatient with Sam as he looked for the glasses. Then I found it hard to believe that these huge machines are walking around in Sam's backyard yet NO ONE seems to notice. Then there's the awkward dialogue between Sam and his parents about what he was doing in his bedroom that goes nowhere. The other scene I found troubling was the final climatic battle between the Transformers. There is all these explosions and destruction going on, yet there are constantly people wandering in the street amongst this carnage. After the first explosion, wouldn't these people find shelter or run away. I'm watching this and thinking "What are these people still doing here?"
Speaking of the final climatic battle, I was hoping this was going to be the film's saving grace. After the first 3/4 of the film was focused too heavily on the humans, I thought that I would at least get an awesome battle to close things out. Yet, even this wasn't as good as I would have liked. I think a part of the problem was that it was too difficult to discern who was fighting. Perhaps with a better knowledge of the characters, this may not have been a problem. But for me, it just seemed like two hunks of metal wrestling each other. I could never tell who had the advantage. Then the whole thing ends with a thud with Sam sticking the cube inside of Megatron. I wouldn't have had as big of a problem with that, if that solution had been posed earlier in the film. Instead, they Optimus kept harping on how he would have to absorb the cube in order to save everyone. Why should he kill himself when sticking it in Megatron was clearly a better solution?
Perhaps I am overanalyzing a film that isn't meant to be nitpicked. Unfortunately the film's flaws were just too glaring to me. I think a good comparison would be the new Die Hard film that came out this summer. It too had a lot of action and ridiculous stunts that require a suspension of belief. However, the difference between the two is that I had a lot of fun with that one and Transformers just left me with a big headache. I am glad there are those out there who enjoyed this, but I thought the film simply did not provide more than meets the eye. Grade: C+
Friday, October 12, 2007
Talking Thursday TV
My Name is Earl: Given the bland nature of the prison storyline to start this season, I was happy to see that this ended up being a flashback episode which showed how all of the primary characters came together and it was a result of Frank, who was played by Michael Rappaport. Rappaport is an actor who I never cared for, nor found funny, so kudos to this show for giving him a role that changed my opinion of him. From what I've read, the Frank character will be around for a few episodes, as will Alyssa Milano, who will play Frank's former girlfriend. With an addition like that, there may be hope that this whole Earl is prison thing may finally begin to perk up.
30 Rock: Last week's episode featuring Jerry Seinfeld was just all right, so I was pleased to see that the show was back on its A game this week. All three of the storylines delivered numerous laughs: You had Jack once again battling it out with his nemesis Devin Banks (played wonderfully by Will Arnett), you had Kenneth trying his best to get Tracy to rekindle with his wife, and you had Jenna continue to deal with her weight issues. Highlights included Tracy's music video for "Werewolf Bar Mitzvah", Dr Spaceman helping Jenna with her weight, Devin putting Jack's heart to the test while Jack put Devin's gayness to the test, and Liz using her ham napkin (aka her unused wedding dress) to prop up her Blerg furniture. The lone disappointment this week was that we didn't get to see enough of the writing staff. But having a large cast full of funny people is far from a serious problem. They'll all get their chance to shine throughout the season.
The Office: The hour long episodes still feel excessive to me, but this week's episode was certainly an improvement over last week's uneven effort. Certainly the highlight this week came from Dwight's attempt and eventual success at outselling the new online service offered at Dunder Mifflin's new website. Part of the enjoyment was watching Dwight and new crony Andy be over-the-top in their obnoxiousness as Dwight battled the computer. But the other joy came from Jim and Pam's wonderful prank where they began IMing Dwight pretending to be the computer come alive.
We also had plenty of romance in the air as Andy did his damndest to woo Angela now that she's on the market again, while it appears the beginnings of a love connection were forming between Kelly and Darryl. More on that in the coming weeks. Meanwhile, Michael is having all sorts of problems. Jan wouldn't come with him to the website's launch party in New York (I absolutely loved Michael asking Jan if she would mind if he took Carol instead). Then Michael learned he wasn't invited to the party in New York. This completely set off Michael and led to him kidnapping a pizza boy after he wouldn't honor his coupon. Michael really appears to be in a downward spiral since the beginning of the season and I'm worried to see where rock bottom might be for him.
Other highlights included Stanley's dancing to the website's music, Phyllis trying to use different tactics to stand up against Angela, the cold opening with everyone's attention diverted to the floating DVD screensaver, Kevin's concern over getting the right Angelo's pizza, and Jim and Pam's rooftop date.
Survivor A lackluster episode after a strong start to the season. Then again, maybe I'm just bitter for failing to score points in Fantasy Survivor from this week's episode. Some bad intel caused my downfall as the commercials misled me to think both tribes were both voting someone off and TV Guide showed a picture of Dave to make me think he would still be around next week, hence why I didn't put any points on him. Misleads aside, Zhan Hu really dropped the ball here by voting him off. Sure he was annoying as all hell, but he was also essential to their daily living, while Sherea provided absolutely nothing for that tribe. The challenges weren't very interesting, mainly because they weren't very competitive. BTW, what was up with that wacky animation during the immunity challenge? Unless they're trying to trick me again, next week the tribes will be reshuffled, which should hopefully provide a little more balance into what has been a rather lopsided competition thus far. One final thought...why does everyone keep trusting Todd. He sure seems sneaky to me, yet everyone keeps making alliances with him and giving him clues to the hidden immunity. And everyone that gives him information ends up getting voted out. If I was the rest of the castaways, I would be looking for ways to eliminate him sooner, rather than later.
CSI: This week's episode was one of those hauntingly disturbing episodes that this show seems to excel at. All sorts of creepy crimes were believed to or actually did occur including pedophilia, double homicide, and exorcisms. I thought Lost's Michael did a good job as the reverend/former sex offender. Although, it still wasn't clear to me at the end whether he had given up his former transgressions or not. I thought the way they determined the girl had been involved in the murders was a little too neat and tidy, not to mention circumstantial, but given how much they had to do to get to that point, the rushed finished was probably necessary. They could have had more time, but they opted instead to do a B story involving new CSIer Ronny Lake. Conveniently paired up with the soon-to-be-gone Sara, she appeared, character-wise, to be the complete opposite of Sara, which is more than likely intentional on the writers part. I'll wait a few episodes to pass judgment on her, but my initial thought is that she doesn't seem like she'll fit in too well with the rest of the regulars. Also, the beehive Grissom found will be returning in future episodes. From what I've read, it will be his pet project for the season. I guess he needs something to take his mind off Sara.
30 Rock: Last week's episode featuring Jerry Seinfeld was just all right, so I was pleased to see that the show was back on its A game this week. All three of the storylines delivered numerous laughs: You had Jack once again battling it out with his nemesis Devin Banks (played wonderfully by Will Arnett), you had Kenneth trying his best to get Tracy to rekindle with his wife, and you had Jenna continue to deal with her weight issues. Highlights included Tracy's music video for "Werewolf Bar Mitzvah", Dr Spaceman helping Jenna with her weight, Devin putting Jack's heart to the test while Jack put Devin's gayness to the test, and Liz using her ham napkin (aka her unused wedding dress) to prop up her Blerg furniture. The lone disappointment this week was that we didn't get to see enough of the writing staff. But having a large cast full of funny people is far from a serious problem. They'll all get their chance to shine throughout the season.
The Office: The hour long episodes still feel excessive to me, but this week's episode was certainly an improvement over last week's uneven effort. Certainly the highlight this week came from Dwight's attempt and eventual success at outselling the new online service offered at Dunder Mifflin's new website. Part of the enjoyment was watching Dwight and new crony Andy be over-the-top in their obnoxiousness as Dwight battled the computer. But the other joy came from Jim and Pam's wonderful prank where they began IMing Dwight pretending to be the computer come alive.
We also had plenty of romance in the air as Andy did his damndest to woo Angela now that she's on the market again, while it appears the beginnings of a love connection were forming between Kelly and Darryl. More on that in the coming weeks. Meanwhile, Michael is having all sorts of problems. Jan wouldn't come with him to the website's launch party in New York (I absolutely loved Michael asking Jan if she would mind if he took Carol instead). Then Michael learned he wasn't invited to the party in New York. This completely set off Michael and led to him kidnapping a pizza boy after he wouldn't honor his coupon. Michael really appears to be in a downward spiral since the beginning of the season and I'm worried to see where rock bottom might be for him.
Other highlights included Stanley's dancing to the website's music, Phyllis trying to use different tactics to stand up against Angela, the cold opening with everyone's attention diverted to the floating DVD screensaver, Kevin's concern over getting the right Angelo's pizza, and Jim and Pam's rooftop date.
Survivor A lackluster episode after a strong start to the season. Then again, maybe I'm just bitter for failing to score points in Fantasy Survivor from this week's episode. Some bad intel caused my downfall as the commercials misled me to think both tribes were both voting someone off and TV Guide showed a picture of Dave to make me think he would still be around next week, hence why I didn't put any points on him. Misleads aside, Zhan Hu really dropped the ball here by voting him off. Sure he was annoying as all hell, but he was also essential to their daily living, while Sherea provided absolutely nothing for that tribe. The challenges weren't very interesting, mainly because they weren't very competitive. BTW, what was up with that wacky animation during the immunity challenge? Unless they're trying to trick me again, next week the tribes will be reshuffled, which should hopefully provide a little more balance into what has been a rather lopsided competition thus far. One final thought...why does everyone keep trusting Todd. He sure seems sneaky to me, yet everyone keeps making alliances with him and giving him clues to the hidden immunity. And everyone that gives him information ends up getting voted out. If I was the rest of the castaways, I would be looking for ways to eliminate him sooner, rather than later.
CSI: This week's episode was one of those hauntingly disturbing episodes that this show seems to excel at. All sorts of creepy crimes were believed to or actually did occur including pedophilia, double homicide, and exorcisms. I thought Lost's Michael did a good job as the reverend/former sex offender. Although, it still wasn't clear to me at the end whether he had given up his former transgressions or not. I thought the way they determined the girl had been involved in the murders was a little too neat and tidy, not to mention circumstantial, but given how much they had to do to get to that point, the rushed finished was probably necessary. They could have had more time, but they opted instead to do a B story involving new CSIer Ronny Lake. Conveniently paired up with the soon-to-be-gone Sara, she appeared, character-wise, to be the complete opposite of Sara, which is more than likely intentional on the writers part. I'll wait a few episodes to pass judgment on her, but my initial thought is that she doesn't seem like she'll fit in too well with the rest of the regulars. Also, the beehive Grissom found will be returning in future episodes. From what I've read, it will be his pet project for the season. I guess he needs something to take his mind off Sara.
Oh Brother
I'll keep this short and sweet. I saw The Brothers Solomon yesterday and it was terrible. I was already skeptical about seeing it based on previews, but because it had a lot of comedic actors that I love, I decided to check it out. Sadly, all of that comedic talent is wasted in this picture. This is basically a stale rehash of all the other idiot comedies that came before it (i.e. Dumb and Dumber) The film's jokes and viewpoints on such issues as race, parenting, romance, and family relationships give us nothing new. There are also a couple of subplots that never properly get paid off over the course of the film. The whole thing was just a waste of my time. There was one funny scene, so I'll explain it here and that way you'll have as much enjoyment as I did with the film, minus the 90 minutes of torture.
As the two brothers (Will Arnett and Will Forte) prepare to become dads, one of the things they try to learn to do is change a diaper. Using a baby doll, the one brother keeps loading up the diaper with pleasant things so that the other brother can be trained into thinking it's pleasant opening up a diaper. Some of the diaper contents included a pile of quarters and chicken nuggets with honey mustard sauce. On the last attempt the brother finds popcorn, but amongst the popcorn is a dead bird. That was put in there to give the brother a harsh dose of reality. That was the only mildly amusing part of the film. If you didn't even laugh at that, then you know just how bad this film was. Grade: D
As the two brothers (Will Arnett and Will Forte) prepare to become dads, one of the things they try to learn to do is change a diaper. Using a baby doll, the one brother keeps loading up the diaper with pleasant things so that the other brother can be trained into thinking it's pleasant opening up a diaper. Some of the diaper contents included a pile of quarters and chicken nuggets with honey mustard sauce. On the last attempt the brother finds popcorn, but amongst the popcorn is a dead bird. That was put in there to give the brother a harsh dose of reality. That was the only mildly amusing part of the film. If you didn't even laugh at that, then you know just how bad this film was. Grade: D
Thursday, October 11, 2007
Charlie Wilson's War trailer
They finally released a trailer for one of the few films that intrigues me this holiday season. The film certainly has the pedigree and topical subject, but we'll have to wait a couple of months to see if it can deliver.
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Al rodente
So with fall break upon us, I decided to head over to the budget theater and I saw Ratatouille. Naturally, whenever a new Pixar film comes out, comparisons are immediately made to the previous films. When I look back on them, I see each one as uniquely great and can do a word association with each of them.
Toy Story has novelty
A Bug's Life has bravery (mainly for trying to follow Toy Story)
Toy Story 2 has the complete package (humor and adventure)
Monster's Inc. has whimsy and imagination
Finding Nemo has heart
The Incredibles has kick-ass action
Cars has nostalgia
So what indelible mark does Ratatouille leave us? In a word, elegance. And depending on how attractive you find that quality in a film will pretty much determine whether you like this film or not. This is undeniably the most visually beautiful Pixar film yet. I was in amazement at some of the sequences created for this film. Everything from the Paris skyline, to the rapids-like water flowing through the sewer, to the fine details found in a five-star restaurant's kitchen shimmers on the screen in illustrious beauty.
However, for the most part, the film seems to be constructed as a bunch of visually beautiful sequences without much in the way of story holding them together. If only the story was as multi-dimensional as the visuals created for this picture. That isn't to say that there aren't many things going on. There are several plot points peppered throughout the film, but none of them are explored with any depth. This is mainly because the two main characters with which the plot points are related to are fairly one-dimensional themselves.
The story focuses on a rat named Remy (voice by Patton Oswalt) who somehow has great culinary skills trying to help a young cook, Linguini, succeed in a once-great French restaurant. Given their peculiar relationship, each of them have to endure conflicts which prevent them from happiness. However, because their characters aren't fully explored, their way of dealing with their problems make them come off as unlikeable instead of sympathetic.
Only one character has an opportunity to flourish and that is the intimidating food critic, Anton Ego. His character succeeds at being memorable through the great voice work of Peter O'Toole. O'Toole manages to rise about the flat storytelling and create a character that immediately draws you in.
Overall, the film really lacks in the humor department and does not create many iconic characters. I think a lot of the credit here goes to the less than star-studded voice cast hired for the film. Patton Oswalt and Janeane Garofalo are serviceable in their roles here, but do not provide that added spark that are found in so many of the previous main characters of Pixar films.
I will say that, flawed plot aside, its conclusion was able to win me back to a certain degree. It naturally provided a happily ever after finish, but did so in a way that wasn't as conventional and didn't insult the audience's intelligence.
If we were grading this film as if it was being served on Iron Chef America, it would score high on plating and low on taste. If you are one that prefers style over substance, you're likely to fall in love with this movie. I find it hard to believe though that too many people fall under that category. In retrospect, it's hard to figure who this film should be marketed towards. Kids are likely to find the film lacking in humor and general fun, while adults will find the concept of a rat as a gourmet chef to be too ridiculous. It appears that this film is all dressed up with no place to go. This film, just like fine dining, is nice on very rare occassions, but for the rest of the time, the familiarity of home cooking will suit me just fine. Grade: B-
Toy Story has novelty
A Bug's Life has bravery (mainly for trying to follow Toy Story)
Toy Story 2 has the complete package (humor and adventure)
Monster's Inc. has whimsy and imagination
Finding Nemo has heart
The Incredibles has kick-ass action
Cars has nostalgia
So what indelible mark does Ratatouille leave us? In a word, elegance. And depending on how attractive you find that quality in a film will pretty much determine whether you like this film or not. This is undeniably the most visually beautiful Pixar film yet. I was in amazement at some of the sequences created for this film. Everything from the Paris skyline, to the rapids-like water flowing through the sewer, to the fine details found in a five-star restaurant's kitchen shimmers on the screen in illustrious beauty.
However, for the most part, the film seems to be constructed as a bunch of visually beautiful sequences without much in the way of story holding them together. If only the story was as multi-dimensional as the visuals created for this picture. That isn't to say that there aren't many things going on. There are several plot points peppered throughout the film, but none of them are explored with any depth. This is mainly because the two main characters with which the plot points are related to are fairly one-dimensional themselves.
The story focuses on a rat named Remy (voice by Patton Oswalt) who somehow has great culinary skills trying to help a young cook, Linguini, succeed in a once-great French restaurant. Given their peculiar relationship, each of them have to endure conflicts which prevent them from happiness. However, because their characters aren't fully explored, their way of dealing with their problems make them come off as unlikeable instead of sympathetic.
Only one character has an opportunity to flourish and that is the intimidating food critic, Anton Ego. His character succeeds at being memorable through the great voice work of Peter O'Toole. O'Toole manages to rise about the flat storytelling and create a character that immediately draws you in.
Overall, the film really lacks in the humor department and does not create many iconic characters. I think a lot of the credit here goes to the less than star-studded voice cast hired for the film. Patton Oswalt and Janeane Garofalo are serviceable in their roles here, but do not provide that added spark that are found in so many of the previous main characters of Pixar films.
I will say that, flawed plot aside, its conclusion was able to win me back to a certain degree. It naturally provided a happily ever after finish, but did so in a way that wasn't as conventional and didn't insult the audience's intelligence.
If we were grading this film as if it was being served on Iron Chef America, it would score high on plating and low on taste. If you are one that prefers style over substance, you're likely to fall in love with this movie. I find it hard to believe though that too many people fall under that category. In retrospect, it's hard to figure who this film should be marketed towards. Kids are likely to find the film lacking in humor and general fun, while adults will find the concept of a rat as a gourmet chef to be too ridiculous. It appears that this film is all dressed up with no place to go. This film, just like fine dining, is nice on very rare occassions, but for the rest of the time, the familiarity of home cooking will suit me just fine. Grade: B-
TV Roundup
OK, sorry for the lack of posts lately. Blame it on a combination of being busy with school work, Indians playoffs games and the overwhelming amount of TV to talk about. I'd love to do daily posts on the previous nights television, but there is so much that I watch on Mon. and Thurs. that I often can't watch it all in one night. And when I do get around to watching everything, I have so much to say about each show that one post would probably take up the length of the screen. So I'm just going to have to make shorter comments on each show. Primarily they'll focus on remaining questions I have that we can speculate on for future episodes. We can just assume I enjoyed each episode and if I didn't, then I'll make a specific note of that.
Heroes: Let's start with the one that requires the most discussion. I love how HRG had bagged and tagged West in the past, but am not liking the fact that he's shown dead in Isaac's painting. Let's hope that's one future that doesn't come true. Do you think the Company could have somehow planted that because they know Mohinder is a mole? The practical reversal in character for Peter and Sylar is neat. Sylar can't do any of his powers (is he "sick"?) and Peter can't help show off all of his. Other questions about them: Where is Sylar? The island from Lost? What's up with Peter's tattoo morphing? I'm ready for Hiro to come back to the present, but I enjoyed having him find a way to communicate with Ando. I also find the Japanese princess cute and she has good chemistry with Hiro. Too bad it looks like Hiro will once again fail to get the girl. I'm sure that whatever the Company wants from Nikki can't be good, but at least it provides her with a reasonably interesting storyline. Poor Micah will seemingly never have a stable family life. Hope he enjoys Nawlins! The more they interact, the creepier I find the whole Mohinder/Parkman/Molly relationship to be. Once again, Maya and Alejandro did nothing interesting. Can Sylar just lop off their heads already?
How I Met Your Mother: I swear the writers of this show must be spying on my life. First, they had Ted come from Ohio and be an Indians fan. Then they had an episode involving Barney going on the Price is Right. Now this week we saw that Barney bought a replica WWF title belt which was to be given to the one of them who was able to have three way first. Not to mention Barney and Marshall playing tennis on the Wii. I'm afraid what aspect of me they'll showcase next. If somehow North Carolina State University somehow gets worked into an episode, then I'll really be scared.
Chuck: The show continues to be all sorts of fun and awesomeness. Highlights: Sarah and the attractive female villan in a kick-ass fight, Casey chucking a microwave at a henchmen's head, the return of the Nerd Herders, Captain Awesome teaching Chuck the lady's role of the tango, Chuck's Stanford colleague getting busted for his insider trading. No real questions to pose at this point, just enjoying the ride that this show is taking us on.
Journeyman: All sorts of questions to ask with this show. But they're still the same ones I had after the pilot. So instead, I'll pose this interesting theory: What if Livia is controlling when Dan flashes back in time? It seems convenient that when he leaves it is at a time that is harmful to his marriage. Unfortunately, if this show doesn't start doing better in the ratings, we may not get the answers to our questions.
Aliens in America: The show is at its strongest when it makes sharp commentary on what it means to be in high school. At its best, the show reminds me of the film Election, which is a very good thing. At times though, some of the stuff can be a bit hokey. We'll see which side wins out as the show evolves over the next few weeks. All of the stuff with Small Paul was great though. Who can't figure out that bringing a briefcase to school is grounds for immediate teasing. I also love how Jeffrey using tactics from Say Anything and Jerry Maguire worked on winning Claire back because those movies are "too old" for her to have seen them. It's a shame that's also a commentary that I'm getting old too.
House: As much as I like the idea of House abusing these new intern candidates with his games, I am really missing the way things used to be. I think the absences of Cameron, Chase, and Foreman are starting to take their toll on House as well, as evidence by his trying to "nearly kill" himself. As bad as it is not having House's old crew around, this week didn't use Cuddy or Wilson enough either. Nobody seems like themselves these days, so let's hope we get some normalcy soon.
Reaper: Like Chuck, this show continues to rock. Watching Sam and co. dressing up in different combat gear each week as they do battle with the soul is a riot. The Devil also continues to produce numerous LOL moments each week with his appearances. The one thing that's bugging me though is that Andi is offering herself up on a plate for Sam and he's too oblivious/too scared to take advantage of it. So frustrating!! Hopefully with some more prodding from Sock and the Devil, he'll eventually grow a pair and get on that. BTW, how wonderfully odd is it that the Devil is actually a better parent than Sam's real parents are?
Heroes: Let's start with the one that requires the most discussion. I love how HRG had bagged and tagged West in the past, but am not liking the fact that he's shown dead in Isaac's painting. Let's hope that's one future that doesn't come true. Do you think the Company could have somehow planted that because they know Mohinder is a mole? The practical reversal in character for Peter and Sylar is neat. Sylar can't do any of his powers (is he "sick"?) and Peter can't help show off all of his. Other questions about them: Where is Sylar? The island from Lost? What's up with Peter's tattoo morphing? I'm ready for Hiro to come back to the present, but I enjoyed having him find a way to communicate with Ando. I also find the Japanese princess cute and she has good chemistry with Hiro. Too bad it looks like Hiro will once again fail to get the girl. I'm sure that whatever the Company wants from Nikki can't be good, but at least it provides her with a reasonably interesting storyline. Poor Micah will seemingly never have a stable family life. Hope he enjoys Nawlins! The more they interact, the creepier I find the whole Mohinder/Parkman/Molly relationship to be. Once again, Maya and Alejandro did nothing interesting. Can Sylar just lop off their heads already?
How I Met Your Mother: I swear the writers of this show must be spying on my life. First, they had Ted come from Ohio and be an Indians fan. Then they had an episode involving Barney going on the Price is Right. Now this week we saw that Barney bought a replica WWF title belt which was to be given to the one of them who was able to have three way first. Not to mention Barney and Marshall playing tennis on the Wii. I'm afraid what aspect of me they'll showcase next. If somehow North Carolina State University somehow gets worked into an episode, then I'll really be scared.
Chuck: The show continues to be all sorts of fun and awesomeness. Highlights: Sarah and the attractive female villan in a kick-ass fight, Casey chucking a microwave at a henchmen's head, the return of the Nerd Herders, Captain Awesome teaching Chuck the lady's role of the tango, Chuck's Stanford colleague getting busted for his insider trading. No real questions to pose at this point, just enjoying the ride that this show is taking us on.
Journeyman: All sorts of questions to ask with this show. But they're still the same ones I had after the pilot. So instead, I'll pose this interesting theory: What if Livia is controlling when Dan flashes back in time? It seems convenient that when he leaves it is at a time that is harmful to his marriage. Unfortunately, if this show doesn't start doing better in the ratings, we may not get the answers to our questions.
Aliens in America: The show is at its strongest when it makes sharp commentary on what it means to be in high school. At its best, the show reminds me of the film Election, which is a very good thing. At times though, some of the stuff can be a bit hokey. We'll see which side wins out as the show evolves over the next few weeks. All of the stuff with Small Paul was great though. Who can't figure out that bringing a briefcase to school is grounds for immediate teasing. I also love how Jeffrey using tactics from Say Anything and Jerry Maguire worked on winning Claire back because those movies are "too old" for her to have seen them. It's a shame that's also a commentary that I'm getting old too.
House: As much as I like the idea of House abusing these new intern candidates with his games, I am really missing the way things used to be. I think the absences of Cameron, Chase, and Foreman are starting to take their toll on House as well, as evidence by his trying to "nearly kill" himself. As bad as it is not having House's old crew around, this week didn't use Cuddy or Wilson enough either. Nobody seems like themselves these days, so let's hope we get some normalcy soon.
Reaper: Like Chuck, this show continues to rock. Watching Sam and co. dressing up in different combat gear each week as they do battle with the soul is a riot. The Devil also continues to produce numerous LOL moments each week with his appearances. The one thing that's bugging me though is that Andi is offering herself up on a plate for Sam and he's too oblivious/too scared to take advantage of it. So frustrating!! Hopefully with some more prodding from Sock and the Devil, he'll eventually grow a pair and get on that. BTW, how wonderfully odd is it that the Devil is actually a better parent than Sam's real parents are?
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