skip to main |
skip to sidebar
Lost was a really great "binge show". I watched it this spring, starting just about when the series concluded. The fact that I live under a rock helped me avoid all the discussion regarding the finale. This show has been on my list for years - since middle school, when I was not allowed to watch "grown up shows" - because of Dominic Monaghan and my insane Lord of the Rings fandom. I figured that now that it's over, what better time to start, right? It was very good. The whole of it, minus the final season, was on Netflix Watch Instantly, which made it so easy to access. Despite theories that the writers haven't had any idea what they've been doing since day one, the show was very well crafted [early CGI polar bears almost turned me off of it all though] in visual, written, and intellectual ways. It's one of those shows that you actually have to watch because if you miss thirty seconds, you won't have any idea what's going on for the next four episodes. Every episode, no matter how ridiculous, left me craving the next, which is an incredibly good thing for a television show.The show takes a lot of effort to experience, but it's really something of a television masterpiece, and the journey is well worth the hours of your life that you'll spend watching it.
[Cross-posted from 4:12.]
Comic book hero movies and summer blockbusters haven't necessarily been good. Ever. Of course there are a few gems out there. That's only natural. I mean, last summer the only movie we had to look forward to that fit that profile - based on a comic book, huge budget summer blockbuster, lots of explosions - was the infamous Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. So I understand why anyone might be wary when it comes to 2010's The A-Team.
But it was really good.
That's right. I liked it a lot.
First of all, the cast was amazing. Obviously, the original team was built perfectly - you've got the brains, brawn, charm, and the wild card. None of them would be particularly amazing alone, but when you bring their very specific talents together, the team is basically unstoppable. The team in the movie specifically was all that and more. Liam Neeson does wonderfully as the no-nonsense, intelligent, plan-it guy slash killing machine. No question there. A part towards the end I found myself thinking, "Of course he's not dead, didn't you see Taken?" Bradley Cooper, of Hangover fame had me nervous for a little while. Before I saw the film, I was thinking, "How could this charmer from The Hangover POSSIBLY fit in with Liam Neeson the BAMF in an action hero movie?," but he worked so well as Face. Of course, I don't know the original A-Team, but his character was charming, silly, and excellently executed. Then, of course, there was Sharlto Copley, better known as Wikus from District 9. Initially, I was worried he was just going to be a stereotype of a crazy guy, because that's definitely how he came off in the beginning, but he was pretty amazing. He had me laughing much of the movie through, and when things got rough, he pulled something crazy out of his bum and saved entire operations. For instance [spoiler], he and B.A. are trying to clear customs and he was supposed to be the rabbi and B.A. was supposed to be from an African country but their passports get switched, so to keep his cover, Murdock ends up improvising Swahili, and it worked. Then there was B.A., played by Quinton 'Rampage' Jackson, an actor I have never seen or heard of before, though apparently he was in one of Jesson's favourites, The Midnight Meat Train. He was also very good - he never tried to be Mr. T., which I think was very appropriate, and he filled out the character quite nicely, bringing him a human side and a charm that one might not expect from a comic book depiction of "the muscle". Overall, the acting was exceptional and the characters all worked together wonderfully.
The plot was fairly decent too - it wasn't about taking down bad guys or saving the world so much as clearing their own names. But for that reason [spoiler], the ending was unsatisfactory. They clear their names but "breaking out of prison is still illegal," so they have to go back in. Face got his ex back, too, which at first bugged me a lot - she doesn't deserve him - but [spoiler] she actually slips him the key to the handcuffs through an overly-passionate kiss, leaving the ending wide open. Though if the cast is the same and the plot is as good, I would definitely not mind seeing a sequel in a couple years.
The effects were great but the CGI was never overwhelming, which is typically a problem that's been bothering me a lot in more recent movies.
There were also times where the dialogue was a little... cheesey... bordering on awful. But the chemistry of the actors and the light-hearted feel of the whole movie more than make up for any faults. I would be lying if I said anything short of "I loved it". I highly recommend this movie - and face it, if you want to see a movie this summer, your other options are kids' movies [though Toy Story 3 was amazing and I've heard good things about Despicable Me, they're simply not for everybody], Avatar: The Last Airbender, and Twilight Saga: Eclipse. So weigh your options carefully : I think you'll find that, besides Toy Story 3 if you're into it, The A-Team will be the best movie you see all summer.
Unless Inception turns out to be really good.
So I think that the TV reviewing is a little silly. I like watching the shows, and I like feeling like I have a "reason" to watch them, but it's just stressful, tedious, and no one reads this any way. I considered shutting down the site altogether, but I do really like having a place to write about books, etc., so I think I will just stop reviewing the shows. If an episode is particularly amazing, I will mention it, but it's really getting too crazy for me to keep up with. And now I'm off to watch three episodes of Glee, and finish The Road.
On the train home from college, today, I finished A Study In Scarlet, the first of the Sherlock Holmes stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The book reads like 'one of those old books', but I loved it all the same.
The narrative is from Watson's point of view, following him home from Afghanistan, through the adventure of finding a roommate, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, learning about what sort of person he is, and then watching him solve a mystery. Part II takes on a strikingly different tone, as it is told from an omniscient third-person point of view. This is the story of victims of the Mormon community, of the murderers, turned victims themselves in London, and of the vengeful man Holmes arrests in his own apartment. After that tale, Watson's narrative resumes and the case is brought to a close.
I really liked this book. It is not necessarily a book you can analyse AP-English style, like A Brave New World was; or perhaps it is, but the reader does not feel the distinct need to do so. The part in the desert reads like a historical fan-fic, bringing in familiar characters like the Salt Lake Mormons, and, more specifically, an appearance by Brigham Young, but that does not mean it is bad. It reads not only well but beautifully, with vivid descriptions and a captivating storyline. Furthermore, as the first of the Holmes stories, the reader needs no background knowledge to understand the characters; Doyle introduces them for the first time here. This book is a wonderful read and I would highly recommend it. It's a great place to start for any aspiring Sherlock Holmes fan [like me], or for anybody looking for a fun story into which one can escape.
On a side note: I'd known that the character, House, was loosely based on Holmes, and after reading the first descriptions of him, I could definitely see it, right down to being a wonderful musician. You'll have to read it and see for yourself!
Fringe - Season 2, Episode 8: "August". Original Air Date: 19 November, 2009.
Michael Cerveris is back! He, and a bunch of other Observers have been sighted all over the place. So one of the Observers, August, who is not Michael Cerveris, kidnaps a girl to save her from a crashing plane. The other Observers are mad that he interfered, because she was supposed to die on that plane.
Meanwhile, the Team is trying to find him because, for all they know, he's kidnapped her.In the end, August realises what he has to do. The other Observers have hired an assassin to kill the girl, because she is not supposed to be alive, and they can't understand why he saved her [if you want to know, it's because he watched her grow up after her parents died, and he feels an emotional connexion to her, almost as a father figure] because she is, seemingly, unimportant. He risks his life for that girl and makes her important, by being implicated in the death of one of Them. And now she gets to live.
There was a lot of hype for this episode, and I don't really feel like it lived up to it. Don't get me wrong, it was a fun, intriguing episode... but it just wasn't that great. It wasn't very good compared to other episodes, and it didn't live up to the anticipatory advertisements and the real-life Observers planted around the country in cities like New York, Boston, and Chicago. For something that was expected to be so big, it felt fairly insignificant.
If you would like to see a sample of my notes on this episode:
MICHAEL CERVERIS IS A BAMF
Olivia is the most amazing woman evar and she's scared of roller coasters *love*
Too many Michael Cerverises. They are not all Michael Cerveris.
I have to go out. I would prefer not to gag you.
WHY IS MICHAEL CERVERIS NOT IMPORTANT IN THIS EPISODE?!
Fringe - Season 2, Episode 7: "Of Human Action". Original Air Date: 12 Nov 09.
The episode opens with cops pulling in to save a kidnap victim, but one walks himself off a roof and one shoots all the other cops and then herself. When the team arrives, Walter guesses hypnosis, but Peter says it can't be that because hypnosis won't make you do anything you wouldn't do yourself. After more thought, Walter considers mind control as a completely viable option. Studying the body of a corpse, Walter tries to figure out a way to combat the mind control, and they stage a way to get the kid back. Except it turns out the kid, Tyler, is really the kidnapper, and he kidnaps Peter! Walter has trouble letting go of Peter, and he can't work without him. Meanwhile, Peter is trying desperately to fight Tyler's control, but can't. Eventually, he brings him to a strip club. He keeps trying to dissuade Tyler, but the kid is set in his course. He tells Peter that his father has lied to him all of his life, telling him that his mother was dead when in fact she was alive and well in Maryland, and that's why he's doing this. Walter figures out another way to block the mind control, with an EMT like in The Matrix I guess, and so they use it on the kid. Peter purposefully crashes his father's car in Tyler's moments of disempowerment. They wean the kid off of the drugs he'd been on and his powers go away. In the end, Walter and Peter share a sweet scene: Walter makes Peter crêpes and talks to him about when he was little and his mother. But then, we see Nina writing an email to Mr. Bell, of all people. She says that "one of the Tylers" showed mind control ability but that it had unintended consequences, and he went looking for his "surrogate mother" and so she is discontinuing the research completely, and there's a shot of Tyler's father wheeling Tyler into a room filled with Tylers!
This episode leaves a lot more questions than answers: surrogate mother? ONE of the Tylers? WHAT?! And what IS Nina up to? What are they planning?! Aaaah! I liked it! But I was also incredibly worried when I watched this episode. The bonds the watcher has 'created' with the characters are really put to the test watching this, which is somewhat embarrassing to admit.... :D
Glee - Season 1, Episode 9: "Wheels". Original Air Date: 11 November, 2009.
This one's just summary, sorry.
This episode's primary focus is Arty, which is awesome, because he has yet to have his own episode or song. The problem is, the school won't front the money to get the Glee Club a wheelchair accessible bus to sectionals, so the club needs to fundraise in order to afford it. Arty gets his own solo, and we learn that he likes Tina. When Will suggests that everybody does a bakesale, the kids are less-than-enthusiastic; disappointed with their decision, he makes them all spend three hours a day in a wheel chair, and they have to prepare a wheel chair number. At first, it's not very easy for them at all. The club really pulls together for Arty, and they raise the money necessary to get the wheelchair accessible bus, but he tells them that he'd rather the money go to installing a ramp in the auditiorium. When they go to tell the principal this, everyone is shocked to discover that Sue has already donated enough money for multiple ramps to be installed throughout the school.
At the same time, Quinn continues to press Finn for financial support. Finn is trying, but no jobs are hiring, and in the meantime, Puck keeps trying to move in on Quinn. He says that people say he's a screw-up because he doens't care for school, but he would never desert his family. We can see that the sparks between the two of them aren't completely gone, but Quinn remains adament that she doesn't need him. I feel bad for Finn, because he's doing what he can. I mean, this is a difficult situation for both of them, but I can't imagine any of my male friends from high school really being able to do so much to help, especially if no place will give him a job. And I still think that Quinn is being a total jerk in being dishonest with and using Finn. At the same time, however, I think that a teenage father should step up and do what he can to help the mother. As if things aren't hard enough for her. Rachel has an idea for Finn: she goes to a store and tells the manager he needs to hire Finn because he's disabled and not hiring him could look like discrimination.
And then there's the issue of the song to sing. They're going to do "Defying Gravity" from Wicked, one of Kurt's absolute favourites. Initially, Will won't let Kurt try out for the solo, but after Kurt complains to his father, and the father gets the principle involved, they arrange to have an audition between him and Rachel. Kurt's father receives an anonymous phone call that says, "Your son's a fag," before hanging up. This clearly bothers him, so Kurt misses the high note in the diva-off so that his father doesn't have to go through more of that than necessary.
Sue has to hold try-outs for someone to replace Quinn on the Cheerios. She picks a girl named Becky who is mentally disabled [sorry, I really don't know with what or how to call it], and Will is freaking out, trying to discover her angle. At the end of the episode, we see that Sue's big sister is like Becky. I guess, if there's anything Sue has a heart for, it's disability.
Arty and Trina go on a date in wheelchairs, and it seems like it's going very well. Trina gets up and kisses him and then admits that she's been faking her stutter since middle school. This really offends him, something, it seems, she did not take into account.
Things I liked:
I like that there are multiple male cheerleaders, and they're not portrayed as anything but male cheerleaders, none of the silly things that come along with the label.
Kids are busier than when Shu was in school. They've got "homework, football, teen pregnancy, lunch?"
Kurt's father to Kurt: "It's not about a guy, 'cuz I'm not ready to have that conversation."
Arty tells Tina the story of how he was in a car accident. "I still retain the use of my penis." Oops.
