It's pretty obvious what Movies & TV blog is about. We churn out recaps, reviews and news on the stuff that interests us.
Tony Black and Zack McGhee have been together for nearly 4 years. They spend altogether too much time watching movies and TV, and being glued to their computers. This blog combines all three at once, thereby gaining them maximum efficiency.
By Zack McGhee | Thursday, October 29, 2009, 11:11 AM
If I could make four changes to Michael Jackson’s This Is It, it would become perfect:
Remove opening studio credits
Restore slow motion final frames to normal speed
Remove closing MJ “Love lives forever” graphic and just end on a still frame of the man himself on stage
Remove cheezy, post-credits “Heal the World” graphic
Director Kenny Ortega and Sony Pictures strive with every edit to give us the closest thing to a final product, but it is the raw, incomplete nature of this footage that makes it so powerful. Watching Michael Jackson’s creative process unfold is the great value of this documentary.
His collaboration with Ortega and the musicians, dancers and technicians begins with many of them speaking directly to camera, talking about why they are there, and how Michael Jackson inspired them to do what they do. Most of them are on the verge of tears when they try to verbalize this; some do cry.
Jackson’s talent and ability to inspire are still so powerful. To see his presence here, on stage for the last time — mild mannered but completely in control — is incredible. The most joyful moments come when he shares the stage in a duet, as in “I Just Can’t Stop Loving You,” or with the guitar solo in “Beat It.” He feeds off the creative energy of his partners and graciously encourages them to take “your time to shine.”
When the movie was over, a friend turned to the rest of us and said, “That would’ve been a great concert.” I think that is the goal. The movie works because it inspires that reaction. For his fans, the chief consequence of his tragic and sudden death is that there is no finished concert, there is no more music, there is no more Michael.
By Zack McGhee | Friday, October 23, 2009, 02:50 PM
A bunch of movies open this weekend in Dayton. Saw VI, Cirque du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant, and Astro Boy are the major releases. Though I will bow to tradition and see the latest in the Saw franchise, I’m most excited about Chris Rock’s documentary, Good Hair, and two new movies opening exclusively at the Neon: The September Issue and Lorna’s Silence. (Also at the Neon is It Might Get Loud, which has gotten good reviews, but isn’t really in my wheelhouse.) What will you see this weekend?
P.S. Apologies for any appearance of impropriety from my blog post about the Little Art’s annual horror marathon. I can understand how it looks, but I also have to consider that it’s something I would’ve written about regardless of my involvement. How often, for example, do three classic films get 35mm screenings in the Dayton area? (Then there’s the area premiere of an upcoming and much anticipated horror title, plus the three digital screenings.) I’d also ask you consider that I’ve done work with the Little Art for almost three years in varying capacities, and this may be the first time I’ve ever touted the theatre on this blog.
By Zack McGhee | Thursday, October 22, 2009, 01:06 PM
For three years now, with the generous support of Jenny Cowperthwaite and several volunteers, I have planned the all-night horror marathon at the Little Art Theatre in Yellow Springs. This year’s marathon features seven movies, plus more than 50 trailers, a costume contest, and other giveaways. It starts Saturday, October 24 at 9:30 p.m. (Doors open at 9 p.m.) Tickets are $20 each, and can be purchased online now. Tickets will also be for sale in person at the box office starting Saturday at 8 p.m.
The lineup this year is pretty exciting. On 35mm, we have Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds, the area premiere of The House of the Devil, Stuart Gordon’s cult classic Re-Animator, and Roman Polanski’s Repulsion. We’re also showing Shaun of the Dead, the original Friday the 13th and George A. Romero’s Night of the Living Dead in high-def digital projection. In addition to the films, we have the usual variety of popcorn and gourmet concessions, and we offer Domino’s Pizza.
Our first two marathons were a lot of fun, even with some hiccups. The first year, a meager but enthusiastic crowd of 35 people showed up for an eight-movie lineup that included The Shining, An American Werewolf in London, The Thing, and Evil Dead II, all on expensive 35mm prints. (That was also the year that a print of Jeepers Creepers II showed up instead of Jeepers Creepers.)
About 80 people showed up in year two, when we showed 35mm prints of another eight movies, including Jaws, Psycho, Videodrome and Eraserhead. We also had our first costume contest and gave out a stack of DVDs as prizes.
This year’s marathon is particularly special, because it is our first as a nonprofit theatre. This change doesn’t impact the marathon in any particular way, but it’s nice to continue this relatively new tradition even as the theatre begins a new chapter in its 80-year history. We’ve also established a friendly relationship with Joe Neff and the folks at the Columbus marathon, who were kind enough to give us a shout-out at their 24-hour event last weekend in spite of my wisdom-teeth-related absence.
We’ve sold more pre-order tickets than ever before, and we’ve had more outreach and inquiries from folks who are excited about the marathon and want to help out in any way they can. If you like to have a good time and see great movies on the big screen, I hope you’ll join us. Just — as our Holiday blogger reminds you — remember to bring a pillow.
By Zack McGhee | Wednesday, October 21, 2009, 10:29 AM
Sorry to be remiss in my usual roundup of the latest high-def releases during my extended wisdom teeth excursion. (To be honest, yesterday’s selection was pitiful, so I’m not too torn up about it.) I’m back now, though still heavily medicated. Perhaps it was this state that led me to pick up the critically reviled Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen on Blu-ray disc yesterday.
This was a blind buy for me (I skipped it in theaters), and I must be honest: I didn’t hate it. That said, I can’t really think of anything good to say about it. It has no quality, it was merely entertaining enough to hold my interest, even at an undoubtedly long two-and-a-half hours. There are, however, a number of bad things to be said that all jump immediately to mind, despite my mild affection for the movie as a whole. Its blatant racism, its vulgarity masquerading as “edge,” that makes-no-sense slutty girlbot (since when can the Transformers replicate human flesh???). All in all, however, I must say that I found this one slightly more coherent than the original. That is, I usually understood what was going on and who everyone was, which was not always the case when I first saw Transformers in theaters two years ago.
As for the Blu-ray, the image looked good (grainy and washed out by design) and the sound was incredible. The version I picked up was Walmart’s exclusive “Big Screen Edition,” which includes some footage only seen previously in IMAX theaters, and shows off all the IMAX-shot footage in the 1.78:1 aspect ratio à la The Dark Knight. (The rest of the film is in ‘Scope.) This “big screen” format really makes a lot more sense for the exceptionally tall Transformers. There is also a “Big Screen Edition” standard-def DVD, also a Walmart exclusive, which presents the film the same way. This edition, on both DVD and Blu-ray, is currently available at most Walmart locations for $19.96.
What did you think of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen? Will you be buying it on DVD or Blu-ray, renting it, or skipping it altogether?
By Zack McGhee | Friday, October 16, 2009, 11:42 AM
I’m still sore and swollen from Wednesday’s wisdom teeth adventure, but thought I’d check in with an update on what’s opening in Dayton theaters this weekend. I’m also curious about what (if anything) you’re planning to see in theaters or at home, so be sure to comment.
One of the year’s most anticipated films opens this weekend: Where the Wild Things Are, adapted from the widely adored children’s book by Maurice Sendak by Dave Eggers and Spike Jonze, and directed by Jonze (Being John Malkovich, Adapation.). Wild Things is getting rave reviews in many publications, but some critics have been underwhelmed. I hope to have a review for you on Monday.
The breakout hit and supernatural thriller Paranormal Activity (click the link for my full review) starts in Dayton today exclusively at the Greene. (It opened a week ago in Cincinnati, West Chester, and Columbus.) I say, don’t believe the hype: It’s a big waste of time.
Jamie Foxx and Gerard Butler star in Law Abiding Citizen, a revenge-themed action thriller that’s been getting generally poor reviews. USA Today seems to give the consensus view: “Deep within Law Abiding Citizen lurks a thought-provoking movie. But most of what we see on the screen is implausible, superficial and only marginally involving.”
A remake of the cult horror classic, The Stepfather, also opens wide today, transforming its R-rated ’80s inspiration into a PG-13 thriller. The original made its DVD debut on Tuesday (just in time for the remake’s release), and I saw it for the first time as a result. My take? From 1987, the original The Stepfather is good but doesn’t live up to its promise. Terry O’Quinn (John Locke on TV’s “Lost”) impresses in the title role, bringing a complex character to life from a simple script. I am sort of curious about the remake, although it was not screened for critics — never a good sign.
By Zack McGhee | Wednesday, October 14, 2009, 05:50 PM
Hi, everyone. I’m checking in with a briefer-than-usual blog post, because I had my wisdom teeth out this morning. So far, I’m recovering fine, and everything went smoothly, but I don’t really have the energy for a proper blog post. I do, however, have the energy to nap and watch TV. Which leads me to pull out a blog post I wrote more than two years ago (!) asking readers of this blog to share their favorite movies to watch when they’re at home sick.
Normally, I would opt for an old favorite like Clueless (as I did in the aforementioned blog post), Clue, The Princess Bride (itself book-ended by a home-sick Fred Savage), Mean Girls, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (also apropos), Rear Window, Star Trek IV: The One with the Whales, etc., etc.
Today, though, since we’re only halfway to the end of October (and Halloween), I’m opting for some scary and supernatural fare: Urban Legends: Final Cut (which I’ve never seen, but I have a soft spot for the original), followed by the just-released The Stepfather and Sam Raimi’s Drag Me To Hell, both of which I blogged about yesterday. Also on deck is Trick ‘r’ Treat, and the non-horror themed duo of Atom Egoyan’s Adoration and Steven Soderbergh’s Che: Part Two, and a whole mountain of other stuff that I can always sift through.
What about you? With flus (swine and otherwise) and seasonal allergies rearing their ugly heads, you may even have a fairly recent example to share. So tell us: What are your favorite movies to watch when you’re at home sick?
By Zack McGhee | Tuesday, October 13, 2009, 08:53 AM
For me, the week’s most exciting release (on Blu-ray and DVD) is Drag Me To Hell, from director Sam Raimi (Evil Dead Trilogy, Spider-Man franchise). Though I admit being somewhat underwhelmed upon seeing it in theaters (having gone in with sky-high expectations), my estimation of it has only improved in the subsequent months, and I can’t wait to see it again. It’s dark-humored, supernatural fun, and well worth your time.
Also out this week is the romantic comedy The Proposal, starring Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds. In my full review, I wrote, “as someone who can easily forgive the use of formula and cliché in romantic comedy, The Proposal managed to disappoint even me; the poor script just makes it painful to sit through.” Avoid it.
While I usually dedicate Tuesday to recapping the week’s high-def releases, there is a DVD-only release this week that’s caught my eye: Shout! Factory’s release of The Stepfather, starring Terry O’Quinn (John Locke on TV’s “Lost”) in a performance that was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award. It’s the first time on DVD for this little-seen (including by me) thriller, released in tandem with a remake to debut in theaters on Friday. I’m looking to forward to checking it out.
Other noteworthy Blu-ray releases? Land of the Lost, starring Will Ferrell, which got mostly toxic reviews; Atom Egoyan’s Adoration; the director’s cut of Oliver Stone’s Natural Born Killers; South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut; and Jonathan Demme’s Talking Heads concert film, Stop Making Sense.
Less noteworthily: American Violet, ’90s schlock-fest The Craft, Hardware, Jim Carrey in How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Midnight Movie, Nickelback: Live from Sturgis, Satanic Panic.
P.S. For a rundown on this week’s other DVD releases, check out Sir Critic’s weekly What Are You Watching? blog post.
By Zack McGhee | Monday, October 12, 2009, 11:06 AM
Paranormal Activity opens today, October 16, in Dayton, exclusively at the Greene. I reviewed it on Monday after seeing it in West Chester, where it opened a week ago.
The usher walks up to the front of the theater and says, “Who’s ready to see Paranormal Activity?” The audience reacts mildly — half of them pumped, the other half just not quite willing to acknowledge this stranger. But we’re all excited about the potential of what we’re about to see. It’s palpable. The theater is packed, and we all want to be terrified.
Suddenly, he corrects himself: “‘Who prepared themselves for Paranormal Activity,’ that’s what I should say.” Answering his own question, he says, “No one.
“I saw this movie last night. This is the scariest thing I have ever witnessed.” If, he says, an hour into this movie, it’s too intense for you, feel free to collect your full refund.
After seeing Paranormal Activity, I wanted to hunt this man down and ask him: “So, had you just never seen a movie before?”
The marketing of Paranormal Activity is a masterpiece. Take a movie that cost less than $15,000 and use midnight screenings and the internet machine to generate $8 million and counting from fewer than 200 screens in three weeks.
The movie, Paranormal Activity, is a boring non-event — overacted, not scary, not creepy, barely a movie. I’ve seen balloon animals that packed more of a punch.
What is the deal here? Micah and Katie live together in a really expensive house, don’t seem to have real jobs, and have a little problem: Katie has been haunted by a demon since the age of eight. They hear strange noises in the night, Katie’s keys end up on the floor (oh noes!), etc. Determined to solve this problem, Micah buys a video camera in an effort to document these strange happenings.
The movie opens and closes without any credits — just a message from the studio thanking the families of the two main characters, Micah and Katie, and a screen at the end with some copyright notices. The intended effect is to make the film more real, and if you didn’t know anything about it going in, perhaps it would work.
For people who go in thinking this is found footage (people who can’t be bringing all that much to the table, I’m afraid), I can see how it would be effective. If you know that it’s a fiction film — how does this possibly work for you? And yet, many claim it does. “I guess I would say,” I told a friend surprised by my negative reaction, “if people can suspend their disbelief for that boring, unbelievable mess, God bless them.”
Much has been made of Paranormal Activity’s debt to The Blair Witch Project, which turns a decade old this year. On paper, that’s true. But considering how different my reaction was to Paranormal Activity, it inspired me to revisit Blair Witch for the first time in more than eight years.
Watching them just hours apart, I was stunned by how well Blair held up — surviving the passage of time, the hype, and Heather Donahue’s widely parodied performance — to still seriously creep me out. Honestly, it’s difficult to pinpoint exactly what works about Blair and what makes Paranormal Activity such a spectacular failure. But I’ll give it a shot.
For one thing, Blair is not just about three filmmakers getting lost in the woods and haunted by a legendary witch. It’s about the deterioration of their collective mental state, the friction between them, the suspicion they have about each other, their fear as it intensifies, their skepticism, their belief that it’s impossible to get lost in America, and the fury of gender dynamics. All of this coheres into an eerie tableau that capitalizes on our own fear and xenophobia, coupled with the legends of ghost stories and missing children with which we’ve all grown up.
Paranormal Activity, on the other hand, is only about what it is about, which is frankly not much. It’s about two people sitting around, haunted by a demon that rarely taunts them, and trying to capture it all on videotape. “At 96 minutes,” says Marc Savlov of the Austin Chronicle, “it’s at least 90 minutes too long.” The movie flirts with more interesting subtext — Micah’s macho-headed obstinacy, for example, or the way this experience weighs on their relationship — but it’s never fully prepared to go there. The shockingly dull result is a boneheaded disappointment and a big waste of time.
By Zack McGhee | Friday, October 9, 2009, 01:31 PM
Tragically, the only major release this weekend is the critically reviled comedy Couples Retreat, starring Vince Vaughn and Jason Bateman. (As of this writing, it has a toxic 9% rotten rating on Rotten Tomatoes.) The more favorably reviewed horror flick Paranormal Activity is opening in Cincinnati, West Chester, and Columbus, and it’s the only new film I’ll be out to see this weekend. Critics’ thoughts on these new releases — plus share your moviegoing plans — after the jump.
Part of me thought that the PG-13 Couples Retreat might have been worth seeing as a hard-R comedy in the style of The Hangover or Wedding Crashers. However, A.O. Scott of The New York Times writes: “An R-rated version of this mess would be only more gratingly dishonest as it tried to hide its weak sentimentality behind a fig leaf of vulgarity.” The Washington Post says it “coasts on comic fumes, relying on colloquialisms, foreign accents, racial stereotypes, lemon sharks, Speedos and inopportune erections to supply the funny.” It’s not only the vulgar, unfunny comedic stylings, but even the pace: “Everything takes too long, and the slapstick sequences are particularly lethargic,” says NPR. The only favorable reviews the film garnered are nonetheless rather tepid, such as the faint praise from James Berardinelli that Couples Retreat is “not unpleasant.” Find showtimes for Couples Retreat.
Paranormal Activity was shot in a week for $15,000, and is being touted as this decade’s answer to The Blair Witch Project. Paramount is releasing the film based on demand generated from its website. The film opens this weekend in Cincinnati, West Chester and Columbus. Entertainment Weekly writes, “With its this-is-really-happening vibe, Paranormal Activity scrapes away 30 years of encrusted nightmare clichés. The fear is real, all right, because the fear is really in you.” Roger Ebert says it’s “an ingenious little horror film, so well made it’s truly scary.” The A.V. Club’s Nathan Rabin laments, “The film loses some of its grimy verisimilitude toward the end, but it’s nevertheless a surprisingly effective low-budget shocker with a sensibility as current as the latest viral videos, yet rooted in the suggestive, less-is-more atmospherics of Val Lewton.” Find showtimes for Paranormal Activity.
I’ll be back with a review of Paranormal Activity on Monday. In the meantime, what movies are you planning to see this weekend? What movies have you seen lately?
By Zack McGhee | Thursday, October 8, 2009, 11:25 PM
It’s been more than five seasons coming, but “The Office” wedding has finally come and gone. In an hour-long episode that aired earlier tonight, Jim Halpert (John Krasinski) and Pam Beesly (Jenna Fischer) tied the knot. Personally, I think it’s one of the best episodes in the show’s six seasons. Lighthearted and fun, with some perfect final moments. Although the climactic semi-twist closely resembled that of some other TV weddings (including, most recently, “How I Met Your Mother”), “The Office” team made it their own with elegant editing and good humor. Ultimately, it was a welcome reminder of why “The Office” has long been one of my favorite shows on TV.
Share your favorite “Office” memories, quotes, and your long-held obsession with the Jim-and-Pam romance in the comments.
P.S. In other Thursday TV recap news, Tony is guest blogging over at the Reality TV blog with a spoilertastic recap of tonight’s “Project Runway”.
By Zack McGhee | Wednesday, October 7, 2009, 01:39 PM
Today, we learn from Dark Horizons (link slightly NSFW) that German news publication Extratipp (via JoBlo) is reporting a sequel in the works to Paul Verhoeven’s once reviled masterpiece, Showgirls, this one subtitled: A Story of Hope.
Dreams really do come true.
Unfortunately, at first blush, it looks like a case of “careful what you wish for.” Though the story is reportedly about Penny/Hope (a minor character from the original), JoBlo ran the German article text through a language translator. They gather the sequel is “about [a] stripper who died from a dose of contaminated cocaine. Her brother comes to Frankfurt to find the responsible and revenge.” While I won’t give up Hope just yet, this sounds more like Hostel territory than the camp glamour of Showgirls.
Ah, well. Should Showgirls: A Story of Hope be a disappointment, I can always plow ahead with my own vision of a Nomi-centric prequel and sequel. And let’s not forget about the potential for a Broadway musical starring Lady Gaga.
By Tony Black | Tuesday, October 6, 2009, 11:29 PM
Sony recently released its latest Action / Adventure game “Uncharted 2: Among Thieves” in select movie theaters around the country.
Up to 10 people can play the game at a time on the big screen thanks to Sony’s 4K digital cinema technology which provides better resolution for video games versus standard digital projectors.
Sony hopes that by bringing video gaming to movie theaters they can help fill the theaters and provide a new revenue source for both themselves and the theater industry.
The problem is they are charging $15 per person which I think is pretty steep. Gamers are usually teens and young adults who probably rather save the $15 to put towards the purchase of the game itself. Now, if they offered some sort of promotion where the $15 ticket provided a discount on the purchase of the game, that would likely get a lot more gamers interested.
“Uncharted 2: Among Thieves” will be released exclusively for the Playstation 3 on Oct 13.
By Zack McGhee | Tuesday, October 6, 2009, 11:25 AM
For the second week in a row, today’s major high-def release is a family classic, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Walt Disney’s first feature is available exclusively in a Blu-ray/DVD combo pack. As of this writing, you can snag it for the unbelievably low price of $9.99 (or $4.99 after rebate) from Amazon. Find out how over at Here’s the Deal.
In addition to the standard DVD included, the Snow White Blu-ray features: 1.33:1 image remastered in 1080p with 7.1 DTS-HD Master Audio; Disney View; Snow White Returns Storyboards; Audio Commentary featuring interviews with Walt Disney; Deleted scenes; Princess and the Frog Sneak Peek; Mirror, Mirror on the Wall Game; What Do You See Game; Jewel Jumble Game; Scene Stealer Activity; Hyperion Studios (An extensive breakdown of the making of “Snow White”); The One That Started It All- featurette (Walt’s Vision of a sequel); All New Music Video, “Someday My Prince Will Come”; and more.
The rest of today’s high-def releases after the jump.
Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory: Gene Wilder gives one of the great performances in this much loved family classic. The Blu-ray is packaged in a DigiPak and includes a documentary and commentary with the Wonka kids.
Audition: Takashi Miike’s shocking third act upends a measured drama and throttles his audience with perhaps the most shocking narrative shift in all of cinema.
Contact: Robert Zemeckis’ compelling 1997 adaptation of Carl Sagan’s novel stars Jodie Foster, Matthew McConaughey, and James Woods.
Trick ‘r’ Treat: I haven’t yet seen this flick, which stars Anna Paquin (“True Blood”), but it’s much anticipated by horror fans, who’ve been teased with impressive critical reception, but denied by a studio that shuffled it off to direct-to-video land.
Year One: A critical and box office dud that was also inexplicably a New York Times Critics’ Pick. Manohla Dargis’ rapturous prose aside, no amount of arm-twisting could propel me to see what’s certain to be the douchiest movie of the year.
Christmas releases: There’s a slew of Christmas-themed releases out in high-def today: A Charlie Brown Christmas, Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, and both the 1947 and 1994 versions of Miracle on 34th Street.
Also available: Bones: Season 4; The Children; Dinosaurs Alive!; Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who! (Original); Ghost Ship; Imagine That ; Kurt Cobain: About A Son; Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein; My Life In Ruins ; The National Parks: America’s Best Idea; The Number 23; Offspring; Red Dwarf: Back to Earth (Director’s Cut); Seventh Moon; Soundstage: Rob Thomas: Live at Red Rocks ; The Thaw; Wolf.
By Zack McGhee | Monday, October 5, 2009, 11:05 AM
There was a whole slew of new releases this weekend: Zombieland, Whip It, The Invention of Lying, Capitalism: A Love Story, Toy Story 3D Double Feature, and Bright Star all made their debuts in Dayton theaters this weekend, and based on widespread critical reaction, they’re ALL worth seeing. Crazy, right?
Unfortunately, I only had time to see three of these over the weekend, plus I caught up with the Oscar-winning foreign film Departures at the Little Art. And to think: Next week, the abysmal-looking Couples Retreat is the only major release. Feast or famine, let me tell you. Thoughts on Zombieland, Whip It, The Invention of Lying and Departures after the jump.
Whip It: Although it hits every expected beat and indulges in every cliché, Drew Barrymore’s directorial debut makes up for this with both its uncommon subject matter and its honesty about family dynamics and teenage behavior. Starring Ellen Page (Juno) as a small-town Texas girl who becomes smitten with Austin women’s Roller Derby, Whip It is high-energy fun with a big heart.
Zombieland: I wrote a full review of Zombieland in tandem with its opening on Friday. Here’s a taste: “Zombieland stars Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Emma Stone and Abigail Breslin as a motley crew of survivors in the zombie apocalypse. That’s a winning formula any way you slice it. But although it’s consistently fun, Zombieland only really succeeds when it breaks free from convention and greets us with the unexpected.”
The Invention of Lying: Starring Ricky Gervais and the always luminous Jennifer Garner (who handles an underwritten character quite well), this is really an audacious mainstream comedy. In a world where no one can tell a lie, it posits, religion cannot exist. Although its ending is too conventional, and it ignores the fine line between what’s a lie and what’s an over-share, Lying goes for the laugh every time. It usually succeeds.
Departures: This Japanese flick won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film early this year. Departures is about an out-of-work cellist who answers a job ad with “no experience necessary” dealing with “departures.” Upon his arrival, he discovers the ad was a misprint: It should have said “the departed.” Touching drama with some light humor is exceptionally well-acted and elegantly shot, though its screenplay is a tad repetitive, and by the end it verges on saccharine.
This blog entry could also be titled “My take on season 4 of ‘Heroes’”
The newest season of “Heroes” starts by introducing us to this season’s new ‘carnival’ of characters, literally. The premiere opens with a funeral scene where this season’s villain named Samuel is delivering the eulogy for his brother who we all know will turn out to still be alive and show up later in the season. After the funeral ends, the mourners gather up and start walking toward a carnival on the horizon.
This is how I imagine the brainstorming session “Heroes” creator Tim Kring had with the producers of the show about season 4:
PRODUCERS: Well, Tim, ratings are slipping. The premiere of season 2 had almost 17 million viewers while the premiere of season 3 only had a little over 10 million. What are you planning to do in season 4 to breath new life into this franchise?
TIM KRING: Carnies.
PRODUCERS: Huh?
TIM KRING: Carnies.
PRODUCERS: Carnies? Do you mean people that work at carnivals?
TIM KRING: Yep.
PRODUCERS: Tim, (I assume they are on a first-name basis with him) what will these ‘carnies’ be doing?
TIM KRING: Villains.
PRODUCERS: Okay, so they will be the villains in season 4?
TIM KRING: Sure.
PRODUCERS: Sure? Are you saying they might not be the villains? What will the overall story arc of the season be?
TIM KRING: Dunno.
PRODUCERS: Well, okay then. Here is your money.
I mean who thought this would be a good idea? The season 4 premiere had only a little over 6.2 million viewers. Almost a third the viewership of the season 2 premiere.
Why is this show still on? A show about people with super powers is such a good idea but they just don’t make good choices. These characters barely use their abilities anymore:
A little part of Hiro seems to die every time he uses his powers so he doesn’t really use them anymore.
Parkman tries to quit using his mind control powers as if they were a drug.
This all stems from not knowing how to write about people with super powers. Giving Sylar and Peter the ability to “absorb” other abilities makes them too powerful for the writers to handle so they keep developng story-lines that prevent them from actually using their powers (season 1 is the exception):
Season 2: Peter has amnesia and doesn’t know that he powers. Sylar is recuperating after the events of season 1 and finds that his powers are gone.
Season 3: Peter discovers his dad is alive and his dad steals Peter’s powers. Peter is now only able to absorb 1 power at a time. Sylar is tricked by Angela Petrelli into believing that he is her son. She teaches him to control his hunger for killing people / absorbing their abilities and he tries to become a better person. Once he realizes she is lying he goes on a quest to find his real parents which means no interaction with the other characters of the show.
Season 4 (so far): Peter’s ability to absorb powers returns but he distances himself from other ‘heroes’ and focuses on being a paramedic. Sylar’s mind is trapped inside Parkman while his body has been shape-shifted to look like and have the memories of Nathan Petrelli who died in the previous season.
See how they write ways for them to not use their abilities?
This show needs a new direction fast or I can’t see it surviving another season. But I’ll keep watching it because bad TV can be just as entertaining as good TV.
Tell me what you think about this season of “Heroes”.
By Zack McGhee | Friday, October 2, 2009, 11:16 AM
Zombie preparedness is an increasingly controversial subject. Yesterday, for example, the University of Florida discarded its emergency plan for dealing with just such an outbreak. I only hope they’re ready for a mountain of liability when their campus is overrun by the undead and no one has any idea which exit to use.
Zombieland stars Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Emma Stone and Abigail Breslin as a motley crew of survivors in the zombie apocalypse. That’s a winning formula any way you slice it. But although it’s consistently fun, Zombieland only really succeeds when it breaks free from convention and greets us with the unexpected.
In voiceover narration that teeters on excessive, Columbus (Eisenberg) gives us the rundown on where things stand, and how he’s managed to survive. The key to his success? Isolation. In post-apocalytic times as tough as these, no one wants to get too close.
So when Columbus first encounters Tallahassee (Harrelson), he refuses to learn his name. Instead, they don monikers derived from their desired destinations. They team up for a ride, and before long they’re hornswoggled into chauffeuring con artists Wichita (Stone) and her younger sister, Little Rock (Breslin), on a road trip to a California amusement park.
Zombieland prevails on a lot of fronts. The performances are an unmitigated success, with the actors bringing a lot to their characters. There’s smart, clever dialogue in the screenplay by Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, but they also ape genre conventions without dissecting them. It’s a stylish feature debut for director Ruben Fleischer, but even at a lean 81 minutes, Zombieland is also a little sloppy.
I winced when Wichita was reminiscing about seeing her first R-rated movie — Anaconda. But Anaconda is not rated R, and how hard is that to check? There’s also a scene toward the end of the film where one of the characters is wandering alone in a place for an unknown reason, attacked, not shown to escape, and then shows up fine in the next scene. We can assume this person escaped somehow, but it makes for bad continuity.
Still, I liked Zombieland. It’s a good time at the movies. And there’s an unexpected treat that I won’t spoil for you that elevates the movie to a higher plane of comedic joy. To quote Matt Singer for the second consecutive day, “The thing that I liked best about Zombieland — the thing EVERYONE’S gonna like best about Zombieland — is the thing you can’t talk about.”
By Zack McGhee | Thursday, October 1, 2009, 04:35 PM
Rotten Tomatoes recently published its list of the Worst of the Worst, the lowest-rated films on the Tomatometer from 2000 through 2009. Of course, there is a slight problem with the fresh/rotten methodology — namely that if everyone thinks a movie is merely mediocre and not worth seeing, it could end up at the bottom (top?) of the list.
But no matter. What I was most curious about is how many films in this “veritable cornucopia of dull, foolhardy, and outright terrible films” I had seen. The answer? 13. And guess what? There’s even one that I still want to see, but haven’t. Have a look at my list — and share your own — after the jump.
90. Dragonfly This Kevin Costner-anchored disaster is a psychological drama directed by “comedy” veteran Tom Shadyac (The Nutty Professor, Patch Adams) in an attempt to break out of the box. Given how it turned out, he quickly climbed back in to direct another pair of Almighty monstrosities (Bruce and Evan, respectively).
80. Big Momma’s House 2 Confession: Although it’s very paint-by-numbers, I didn’t hate this movie. And in fact, I consider it a major improvement over its vulgar, incoherent predecessor.
77. Date Movie I saw this as the B-side to a double-feature after Scary Movie 4 at the Dixie drive-in in 2006. We stuck around because of the promise of the hilarious, charming Alyson Hannigan. Mistake.
74. Envy This little-seen 2004 Barry Levinson comedy stars Ben Stiller and Jack Black. Dark and strange, but still worth seeing as far as I’m concerned, if for no other reason than co-star Christopher Walken.
73. Gigli I saw this one on DVD after all the hoopla. It’s a messy but interesting film — still a misfire, but hardly the massive failure it was touted as in the wake of the Bennifer split.
64. Corky Romano I saw this Chris Kattan comedy at a friend’s house on DVD. I confess: I laughed more than I expected to, but I can’t remember a thing about it.
61. Good Luck Chuck Painfully generic romantic comedy is one of many strained attempts in recent years to posit Dane Cook as a leading man. There are some funny moments, but they’re all undercut by one of the most reprehensibly grotesque scenes I’ve ever seen in the movies.
40. Down To You Forgettable romance stars Freddie Prinze Jr. and Julia Stiles, and uses unconventional flashback structure to little effect.
39. Miss March Released just this year, Miss March is an amateurish comedy with a handful of hearty laughs and a lot of wasted effort, but it’s hardly among the decade’s worst. (Plus: Newcomer Zach Cregger is super cute.)
34. The Haunting of Molly Hartley Entertaining, somewhat suspenseful thriller takes an audacious turn in its final reel. More puzzling than abhorrent, it’s bad in a good way.
31. The Covenant Ah, yes! Now we’re getting down to the good stuff. The Covenant, or Boycraft as my crew affectionately calls it, has hot guys with post-pubescent supernatural gifts, winding family histories, school uniforms, and ancient scores to settle. It doesn’t quite earn true guilty pleasure status (not enough camp), but if these were the days of VHS, I’d have worn out those swim team practice scenes by now.
27. Battlefield Earth: A Saga of the Year 3000 I honestly have no idea why I went to see this movie. Maybe I just wanted to see if it was really as bad as everyone said it would be. It was.
2. One Missed Call This 2008 thriller is yet another weak Japanese horror remake. For my money, The Ring 2 is the worst offender, but if One Missed Call isn’t that atrocious, it’s just as incomprehensible.
P.S. The one movie on the list that I still want to see (but haven’t gotten around to) is Uwe Boll’s notorious Alone in the Dark (#15), starring Christian Slater and Tara Reid. Film critic Matt Signer writes: “I urge you to see it. It will change your life. It will change the way you see the world. And phones.” Here’s why.
Cars and Parts Springfield Swap Meet
Carroll Commencement
Fairborn commencement
