Bryan Caron's Blog, page 14

Movie Mayhem – Thor: Ragnarok

Marvel will go down in the history books as having the most ingenious, self-sustaining film franchises in movie history. Since starting their “Cinematic Universe” back in 2008 with the introduction of Nick Fury and the Avengers Initiative in the post-credit scene of Iron Man, people have flocked to the theaters to get a taste of all the interconnected stories that have since built this magnificent universe. Several other companies have tried to start their own universes to muddled results because what they don’t seem to understand in building a world like this is that you need the trust of the audience to make it work. DC and Paramount have yet to earn any confidence in characters that an audience cares about and a story that doesn’t reek of desperation. Marvel’s universe was grown organically and they built a fan base before connecting their films outside of the mid/post-credit scenes. They respected their audience, hired a team that understood the source material and loved the characters to a degree that would ground the ideas in a realistic shell, but stay true to the heart of what everyone expects from a comic-book.

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Thor: Ragnarok — 2017; Directed by Taika Waititi; Starring Chris Hemsworth, Tom Hiddleston, Mark Ruffalo, Cate Blanchett, Jeff Goldblum, Tessa Thompson and Anthony Hopkins

Marvel’s newest entry into the MCU is a third attempt at getting one of the most iconic characters on their roster to fit into their universe. By all accounts it’s been hard to find a way to fit Thor (Chris Hemsworth) into the growing storyline without it seeming false or unrelated. Which makes sense, since he is a god from another planet (and another realm), so what exactly would motivate him to play around on an insignificant planet such as Earth and help humans fight our pitiful, mundane problems? Having brother Loki (Tom Hiddleston) wreck havoc in an attempt to rule over Earth was a good start, but Thor always felt a little out of place in Avengers: Age of Ultron, especially since they basically sidelined him for half the movie to go on a quest that had nothing to do with the actual threat of the film, and instead was one of the only times producers tried to shoehorn in a setup for a future film.

With Thor: Ragnarok, über-producer Kevin Feige and director Taika Waititi have finally figured out the winning formula of how to make not only Thor relevant to the overall franchise, but the Incredible Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) as well. Based on the previous Thor films, the tone of Ragnarok starts out a little odd, as if Feige and Waititi were looking to capitalize on the popularity of Guardians of the Galaxy and Spider-Man instead of giving him his own voice while incorporating some of that humor naturally. From the opening shot, Thor is thrust into situations and given a slew of ham-fisted one-liners that would be much more suitable to the likes of Starlord or that wily webslinger. Fortunately, as the movie continues, you’re able to settle into this tone quite easily, setting up a wondrous second half that plays like a Laurel and Hardy buddy comedy surrounded by visually stunning action and a new team of ragtag superheroes that defeat their villains with some unexpected and unorthodox means.

When Thor returns to his home world of Asgard after spending a couple of years searching for the infinity stones and stopping anything that may seek to harm the nine realms under Asgard’s protection, he immediately finds out that his father is actually Loki in disguise. When the two brothers return to Earth to locate Odin (Anthony Hopkins), they discover his imminent death is about to bring about an evil hellbent on destroying all of the realms and ruling over the universe. It turns out this evil is Odin’s first child, a daughter, Hela (Cate Blanchett), who ruled with Odin until he locked her away because her power and drive for domination grew much too powerful.

In their first encounter with Hela, Thor and Loki are both knocked from the Bifrost and end up on Sakaar, a planet that seems to be the garbage dump for all cosmic trash. Thor is quickly found and sold to the Grandmaster (Jeff Goldblum) as a “prisoner with a job” who must defeat the Grandmaster’s ultimate beast in a battle royal to earn his freedom. When Thor finds out the beast is actually the Hulk, he uses his power of persuasion to recruit him and his captor, Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson), to find a way to escape the planet and stop Hela from destroying the universe.

It’s quite clear that everyone on screen is having a blast. Blanchett oozes malevolence in every pour of her being, turning Hela into one nasty, formidable villain; Goldblum is at his Jeff Golblumiest best; Ruffalo fits right in with the vibe and atmosphere of his character’s turmoil; and newcomer Thompson makes defiance and reckless abandon feel fun and natural. The film also introduces a slew of new alien creatures, one of which, Korg (voiced by Waititi himself), looks as if he may have a grand ole time if he makes it into Infinity War. None of the characters detract from our main heroes (or anti-heroes); instead they add a new layer to the already contentious relationship between Thor and Loki, giving each of them something new to think about and learn from and evolve.

Adding Hulk (aka Bruce Banner) to the mix also adds a new compelling layer to the proceedings, tying up some loose ends while turning him into a fantastic comic foil for everyone on screen and giving us a chance to see how both characters will fit in when they finally meet and team up with the Guardians and Spider-Man. I’m still not sure I’m a fan of the soundtrack to the film, which to me felt slightly off, again maybe trying a bit too hard to invoke the feel and essence form other films in the franchise (though having Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory‘s “Pure Imagination” play as Thor gets introduced to Sakaar through a weird, psychedelic head-trip of a tunnel was genius).

All-in-all, Thor: Ragnarok takes a character from the outskirts of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and creates an interesting and delightful journey of self-exploration and change that should have some lasting effects, if not on the MCU as a whole, then certainly on Thor and his ultimate future as both the god of thunder and an Avenger.

My Grade: A

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Next week, new movies include Daddy’s Home 2 and Murder on the Orient Express. If you would like to see a review for one of these, or any other film out next week, please respond in the comments below.

Movie Mayhem – Battle of the Sexes

Films that are “Based on a True Story” are made for one of three reasons: 1) they have a clear message that someone feels passionate about; 2) they tell an unbelievable or truly remarkable story; or 3) they uncover and/or showcase incredible tests of strength, honor and heroism. Going into Battle of the Sexes, I knew nothing about the events that transpired between Billie Jean King (Emma Stone) and Bobby Riggs (Steve Carell). To be perfectly honest, like a lot of people, I’m sure, I didn’t even know who these people were. Because of the subject matter, I figured Billie Jean King would be triumphant, but the actual match happened before I was born, and I don’t watch tennis, so there’s really no reason why I would know what transpired between these two stalwarts of the sport. After seeing it, it’s clear that directors Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris had something to say with Sexes, but the execution of those messages — including equality for women in all aspects of life as well as equal rights for the LGBT community — got a little lost in translation.

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Battle of the Sexes — Directed by Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris; Starring Steve Carell, Emma Stone, Andrea Riseborough, Natalie Morales, Sarah Silverman, Alan Cumming, Elisabeth Shue and Bill Pullman

The story focuses on King, who makes a very strong point about the discrepancy between the purse for male tennis players being a lot higher than for female players, especially when women draw the same exact crowd sizes. There’s no arguing that the road to women being seen as more than simply eye candy and/or housewives was a long, grueling one, and according to this film, King was one of the major players in turning the tide. After the president of the main tennis association at the time (Bill Pullman) refuses to comply with her demands for equal pay, King and a team of her peers ditch the organization in favor of starting the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA). In response to King’s assertion that women are just as good as men, arrogant Wimbledon champion Riggs challenges her to a tennis match that would prove once and for all that men are stronger, faster and much more suited to play the sport.

Stone and Carell are both terrific, perfectly capturing the essence of the characters and the dynamic of their rivalry. I do find it funny — and perhaps a bit ironic — though, that in a movie that speaks to equal rights, Riggs gets the short end of the stick when it comes to character development. King is on grand display, sometimes to the detriment of her plights. When she begins to feel something for her attractive hairdresser (Andrea Riseborough), Dayton and Faris nearly bang you over the head with five minutes of looks and blatant come-ons that none of it feels authentic — they are forcing you to believe that these characters could fall for one another rather than having it naturally grow into something, which it does anyway, so why spending all this time on this first meeting was so important, I’m not sure.

This excess of attention leaves less time to explore what Riggs was going through at the same time. As Dayton and Faris concentrate on making King a flawed human being, Riggs is turned into nothing more than a caricature. Addiction to gambling and the breakdown of a marriage are strong dramatic elements that are mostly played for laughs or treated as more of an afterthought. Often times, as we have seen with the tragic losses of great comedians, those who display a comic facade in public may have a deeper conflict going on underneath. In one scene, Riggs erupts in a gambler’s anonymous meeting, which plays into Carell’s strength as both a smart comedian and dramatic actor, but Dayton and Faris never dig any deeper into this idea, returning him to a brash, chauvinistic joke over finding out what makes Riggs truly tick.

This discrepancy in development keeps the final match from being the strong, empowering, David vs Goliath moment it was meant to be. The actual match is done well, and the inclusion of actual television footage is a nice touch. But at no time did I ever believe King was battling a giant; she was battling a jester, someone so insignificant in comparison to what King was trying to accomplish. According to the film, Riggs was one of the mightiest players to play the game who doesn’t take the match seriously at all. He believed with all of his might that he could beat King in his sleep and it would be great publicity. However, other than a quick moment where we feel the pressure getting to Riggs and his realization that he should have done more to prepare for the match, seeing him as anything but a clown underwhelms the entire climax.

The resolution of the film is also hurt by not giving Riggs more time to develop. According to the narrative that was presented, there’s no reason for what happens at the end of the film except for the fact that it happened in real life. In that way, it felt tacked on and manufactured without any true resonance, and this is where the film ultimately lost me. No one expects a movie based on true events to be 100% accurate. If it were, it would be a documentary. Narrative films based on true events are always embellished in some way in order to fit a specific dramatic narrative. I can’t say how accurate Battle of the Sexes is or isn’t; but by being more of a showcase of what happened rather than an exploration of why it happened and the true significance of it, the film didn’t leave a lasting impression on me in the way I believe it was intended.

My Grade: B

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Next week, new movies include Blade Runner 2049, The Mountain Between Us and My Little Pony: The Movie. If you would like to see a review for one of these, or any other film out next week, please respond in the comments below.

Movie Mayhem – Kingsman: The Golden Circle

When studios decide to make a sequel to a beloved (or financially successful) movie, they are walking a fine line. To make a successful sequel, you not only have to bring back all of the elements that clicked with audiences to begin with, but to keep it from feeling stagnant, you have to up the ante by delivering bigger and better ideas, struggles and character development. Often, these decisions fail — either the movie doesn’t go far enough and the film feels like a repetitive money grab, or they go too far, and it doesn’t feel anything like the original… it becomes too over-the-top or silly for its own good. But when you’re able to find the right balance between heightening the story, expanding the lore, and giving fans what they liked with extra bite, fans will continue to follow the characters wherever you take them. Kingsman: The Golden Circle falls into the latter category, as it brings back everything we loved of the original in a way that doesn’t make it feel like a tedious retread.

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Kingsman: The Golden Circle — Directed by Matthew Vaughn; Starring Taron Egerton, Mark Strong, Channing Tatum, Halle Berry, Julianne Moore and Jeff Bridges

Eggsy (Taron Egerton), the Kingsman trainee who failed to pass the final test when he wouldn’t “shoot” his dog, but then regained his status when he helped save the world from the maniacal Valentine (Samuel L. Jackson), is back on the job, having taken over the codename Galahad from his now deceased mentor. What surprised and delighted me more than seeing Eggsy as an official spy was that he was involved with Princess Tilde (Hanna Alström), whom we last saw locked in a cell waiting for Eggsy to ravish her after saving the world. Seeing that this moment wasn’t just some James Bond fling, and turning the tryst with a basically superfluous character into a relationship is a fun little twist, one that plays perfectly into the rest of the film.

And Tilde isn’t the only character we might not have expected to return. Charlie (Edward Halcroft), the candidate who was banished when he easily gave up the secrets of the Kingsman when he thought his life was on the line, shows up with a robotic arm and a grudge to grind. The movie starts with a whiplash fight sequence through the streets of London as Charlie and Eggsy fight for supreme dominance. It’s a fun, kinetic rumble that pushes the boundaries of the stunt choreography from the first film, but remains as slick and silly. None of the action sequences in the first film were meant to be taken seriously, and neither do these, as they give a wink and a nod to some of the most ludicrous fight sequences in the spy days of yore.

After Eggsy deftly escapes, a piece of tech left behind by Charlie allows him to hack into the Kingsman database, which leads to the death of all Kingsman operatives, including Roxy (Sophi Cookson), aka Lancelot, who I thought deserved better from this movie. Then again, her death does continue the franchises notion that no one, not even main characters, are safe from death. Eggsy was spared because he was at a dinner with Tilde’s parents (Björn Granath and Lena Endre) in a romantic, very funny sequence that allows Eggsy to show off his “knowledge” of everything in the world, while trying to stop his friend from playing around with his gadgets back home.

Also spared is Merlin (Mark Strong), who’s residence wasn’t part of the Kingsman database. The two boys decide to activate their doomsday protocol, which leads them to Kentucky, where they meet the American version of the Kingsman known as the Statesman. Whereas the Kingsman use tailoring as a cover, the Statesman are all about the alcohol, using code names like Whiskey (Pedro Pascal) and Tequila (Channing Tatum). The head of the Statesman is Champagne (Jeff Bridges), otherwise known as Champ. Having the boys we know team up with this rowdy bunch of distillers is fun to watch, as their proper British personalities clash with the southern twang of their spy cousins.

Together, the group discovers another nefarious plot, this time run by a morally decrepit drug lord named Poppy (Julianne Moore). To show how nefarious this woman is, in her first scene, she not only has a new recruit send one of her old colleagues into a meat grinder to prove his loyalty, she then turns around and forces the new recruit to eat a hamburger especially made from that fresh meat. In a dastardly attempt at legalizing all drugs so that she can step from the shadows and become a legitimate businesswomen, Poppy has poisoned all of her drugs with a slow-gestating virus that will kill all of her customers unless the President (Bruce Greenwood, having maniacal fun of his own) agrees to her terms. He has no reason to, though, as having all the druggies die would solve the drug problem, right? So it’s up to Eggsy, Merlin and the Statesman to stop Poppy and save millions of lives.

The scenario as stated doesn’t seem all that unrealistic, nor did the scenario in the first film. Each one could conceivably happen, but Matthew Vaughn makes them feel insanely impossible by making them seem so ridiculously “mad scientist” evil. Which is the whole point of these films. It’s taking what we love so much from the spy genre and heightening it so far beyond belief that it makes fun of the genre while paying homage to it. There are a lot of great moments in this film, and the character development stays true to everyone involved. When Eggsy gets caught in a situation that would compromise his ethics as a human being, he does what he believes is the right thing to do, but hurts someone in the process. He ends up respecting his own moral code by not going through with the act, even though his mission remains a success. It’s one example of how Vaughn isn’t willing to compromise the integrity of his characters just to make a few more dollars at the box office.

I can’t say that Kingsman: The Golden Circle is better than the original, because I don’t believe it is; there are some moments, jokes and cameos that quite land the way they should have, and there’s a couple of setups that don’t blossom correctly. However, the film remains on par with the original. The fight scenes continue to be choreographed to some of the oddest music choices, absurd elements are brilliantly explained, and when Vaughn can get away with a great emotional punch by killing yet another major character that you won’t see come back in the threequel (because if they do, it’s going to take a lot of suspension of disbelief, even for this franchise), you know you’ve done justice to your fans.

My Grade: A

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Next week, new movies include American Made, Flatliners, ‘Til Death Do Us Part and A Question of Faith. If you would like to see a review for one of these, or any other film out next week, please respond in the comments below.

Movie Mayhem – mother!

I’m not quite sure what to make of Darren Aronofsky’s mother!. On the one hand, I was intrigued by what the writer/director was attempting to do and how he navigated the first half (or two-thirds) of the film. On the other hand, the last third is so bizarre and so disjointed and removed from all semblance of sanity, it’s hard to understand the point of the whole thing. To say the end comes out of left field would be an understatement; it felt like an abandoned child who appears out of nowhere and claims to be related to someone who just won the lottery. Aronofsky has the right to make whatever movie he likes, and he certainly has pushed the boundaries over the years with bizarre, sometimes sickening character studies. This time, though, he may have gone a bit too deep into his own head where he wasn’t quite able to find his way back from the edge of his own self-indulgences.

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mother! — 2017; Directed by Darren Aronofsky; Starring Jennifer Lawrence, Javier bardem, Ed Harris and Michelle Pfeiffer

The film begins with the image of a woman being burned alive. Where she is, and what this means isn’t explained until the very end, but we’re also given a brief look at a house that has also seen the wrong side of a flame. Indicating a clear passage of time, Aronofsky fades the fire-ravaged home into a partially rebuilt abode, complete with Jennifer Lawrence waking to find someone missing from her bed. The next five minutes begin the slow burn oddity of the film’s tone, as Lawrence walks around the house searching for her allusive husband as if she’s never been there before, even though it’s made clear in the next scene that she’s been married to Javier Bardem’s character for an undetermined time and has spent that time rebuilding his home. The scene almost plays with a typical horror movie trope of the damsel in distress slowly searching for the enigmatic killer. Having this at the very beginning of the film makes it feel out of place — that something is a little off. This decision then plays one of two ways — either you’re intrigued to find out why it feels off, or you push away from the film because it already doesn’t make a whole lick of sense.

Once Lawrence reaches the front door and stares out at the openness of the property surrounded by a forest of trees, we finally meet Bardem, credited only as “him”. She’s initially scared by his sudden presence, but the two quickly settle into their respective routines in their quiet, solitary lives — she continues to find the right plaster for the walls, and he searches his mind for words to his next piece of literature (or poetry). The two are supposed to be insanely in love, (well, Lawrence is supposed to be in love with him, at least, especially as he continually disrespects her at every turn), but their chemistry is anything but. Maybe it was the age difference or if the chemistry just wasn’t there, but I never quite believed Lawrence was ever connected to Bardem in that way , which goes against the foremost conceit of the film.

Enter Ed Harris as a supposed doctor who was told Bardem’s home was some sort of Bed and Breakfast. Harris and Bardem hit it off as if they’d known each other for years, and he invites the doctor to stay the night. Lawrence is obviously wary of having a strange man stay with them, especially when she wakes in the middle of the night to see him puking his guts out with a strange wound that Bardem hides from her. The next day, Harris’s wife, Michelle Pfeiffer, shows up on the doorstep, and this is where the true horror of this film comes into play. I mean, who isn’t afraid of the unwelcome houseguests that overstay their welcome!?! I could totally relate to Lawrence’s distaste for this rude, selfish couple, as I hate the idea of anyone who doesn’t have any consideration for your home or your boundaries.

And these two are as disrespectful as they come, leaving the kitchen a mess, smoking inside when it was made clear they shouldn’t, and ignoring Lawrence’s every request, which includes staying out of Bardem’s writing room, where he keeps a precious stone he found after his home was burned down. Eventually, Pfeiffer accidentally breaks the stone (though we can’t be certain it wasn’t intentional) and from then on, everything begins to turn upside down for Lawrence and her once conformable lifestyle. Suddenly the couple’s sons (real-life brothers Brian Gleeson and Domhnall Gleeson) are walking into their life without even knocking; Bardem is inviting a slew of rude, disrespectful people over for a wake; and the script begins to spiral out of control.

It’s hard to talk about this film without giving away any spoilers, but I am going to try. The most I can say is that everything after the unexpected wake feels like an entirely different film — a crazy fever dream where nothing makes sense, removing you from reality. It’s all still connected, mostly by the insanity of what happens and the weird connection Lawrence has to the home, which she believes may have its very own heart, if not just its own heartbeat, but Harris and Pfeiffer prove to have absolutely no purpose (except perhaps to help inspire Bardem) as they go MIA for the last third of the film, making it feel as if you invested in these characters for nothing.

What you’re left with by the time the credits role are a whole lot of questions. Walking out of the theater, I heard a few of the patrons remark how stupid the film was and how it was a waste of their time. And in its own twisted way, that’s sort of the point of this experiment. When every frame is so interpretative, there’s no telling what Aronofsky was actually thinking, which without a doubt will keep plenty of people from enjoying the film. However, taking in the small, odd nuisances of the performances and what the final twist of the film reveals (or doesn’t reveal) made me feel both disrespected for spending so much time with this couple only to be given the finger, as well as appreciation for someone who took a risk, did something different and asks you to decide what the film means. It’s clearly a film that has to be watched multiple times to admire the artistry of it all, but who would want to sit through it again, especially if they were put off by the grotesque ridiculousness? I’ll leave that interpretation up to you.

My Grade: B

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Next week, new movies include Kingsman: The Golden Circle, The LEGO Ninjago Movie and Friend Request. If you would like to see a review for one of these, or any other film out next week, please respond in the comments below.

Chaos Breeds Chaos 2017 Television Awards – Part 3

You’ve read Part 1 and Part 2, so why stop there? Below are my final awards for the 2016-2017 television season.

Best Cross-Over: Supergirl/TheFlash/Arrow/Legends of Tomorrow

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Legends of Tomorrow — CW

Now this is how a crossover is done. Taking the kernel of an idea, Greg Berlanti and his team developed a four-hour (well, technically three-hour) mega-episode that gave us some incredible new team-ups and fresh interactions between characters that may never talk to one another again. Though the episode of Supergirl can’t really be considered a part of the crossover (since the part that included Barry and Cisco arriving on Earth 38(!) was only part of the last two minutes, and then repeated in The Flash), the other three episodes took the crossover idea to new heights, doing its best to include everyone while building on the mythologies of each individual show. Though it could be argued that the episode of Arrow diverged a little too far out of the crossover aspect, taking too much time inside the “fake” world and not enough time showing the team attempting to get them back, The Flash and Legends of Tomorrow shined bright with action, intrigue and enough comic relief to leave you in stitches. With Cisco providing Kara a way to jump back to Earth 1 whenever she needs to, and each major character having gone through some transformation by the end of the event, we could already see what the repercussions of this major battle would take on each series moving forward, setting up not only future major crossover events, but mini one’s as well.

This season’s most noticeable trend: Movie to TV Adaptations

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The Exorcist — FOX

Television adaptations of movies is hardly a new concept. But over the last few years, it seems to have grown into a normal form of inspiration, one that will churn out half a dozen new shows based on movies every year. And just like any idea, for every adaptation that builds upon its source material in a terrific way (12 Monkeys, Bates Motel), there’s one that fails to come even close to living up to its predecessor (Rush Hour, Minority Report). Unfortunately, the trend doesn’t seem to be slowing down, what with there being around 35 adaptations currently in the pipeline, even though the statistics continue to hold true. Four new movie adaptations hit the small screen this fall and all three were executed with just the right amount of flair. Lethal Weapon was the leader of the pack, doing what Rush Hour couldn’t — teaming two great actors to build on the mythology set up by Shane Black. It doesn’t try to be the movie; it just borrows the best ideas and runs with them in a funnest, most emotional way it can. Frequency also took this route, using the first half of the film to set up the show, then diverting quite well into it’s own must-see mystery. The Exorcist was at first an adaptation in name only… until they revealed that Geena Davis’s character was actually Regan from the original film, which only added some great dimension to an already scary, riveting show. And on cable, Shooter showed its might by staying true to the essence of the film while providing some good action among the mystery and intrigue. Alas, on the other side of the spectrum we had Taken, a feeble attempt at giving us Brian Mills’s backstory; Training Day, where, aside from the late Bill Paxton, the acting was mediocre at best and the vibe was completely lacking in energy; Uncle Buck, which never found a stable voice; and The Mist, which yes, is also another adaptation of the Stephen King short story, but never manages to find any semblance of the claustrophobia of either the book or the much superior film.

Coming Into Her Own Award: Happy Quinn (Jadyn Wong), Scorpion

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Scorpion — CBS

Three years ago, when Scorpion first premiered, I commented that Happy Quinn was the worst character of the new year. I’m happy to say that over the last season and a half, Jadyn Wong has finally won me over. The more the show has come into its own, the more each character has found their place on the team, and the chemistry between everyone has become so easy and relaxing. But more to the point, Happy’s story arc involving her false pregnancy, her fake marriage to Walter (Elyes Gabel), and her real marriage to Toby (Eddie Kaye Thomas), though somewhat contrived for drama’s sake, truly took Happy’s character in a new direction, one that helped her evolve into someone I could get behind.

Creepiest New Character: The Tooth Monster (Channel Zero: Candle Cove)

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Channel Zero: Candle Cove — SyFy

When he first appeared, I wasn’t sure what to make of the this thing. Then you realize the creature is made up of human teeth. And I thought the Candle Cove puppet show that mesmerized (hypnotized) the kids was the creepiest thing on this show. Nope. Then to find out this is how Mike’s (Paul Schneider) twin brother Eddie (Luca Villacis), who Mike killed when they were kids, is able to manifest himself in the real world until he can take over his brother’s body, the whole scenario is just one big weird and bizarre experience.

Characters in need of a spinoff: Castiel (Misha Collins) and Crowley (Mark Sheppard), Supernatural

[image error]Supernatural has tried to do the spin-off thing before without success (and will try again soon with their planned Jody Mills (Kim Rhodes) spinoff). One reason being, Supernatural stems from the chemistry between Sam and Dean Winchester (Jared Padalecki, Jensen Ackles), so without them, it’s hard to watch another generic Supernatural copy. However, if there was any characters that could be viably spun-off into their own show, it would be Castiel and Crowley. I know it was only a few short episodes, and the ramifications of the recent season finale would keep it from happening, but their team-up to search for Satan throughout this past season has turned out some of the funniest moments on the show. It would be a hoot to watch them become the new Sam and Dean, and because they are already established favorites in their own right, fans would no doubt tune in to see what crazy, scary and ultimately obnoxious cases they would take on. Heck, I like the idea so much, I made a poster.

 

Actor who’s better than the show: Barry Watson, Date My Dad

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Date My Dad — Up

You know an actor is good when they leave a show and the quality sharply declines. For example, when Barry Watson left 7th Heaven, the show became so much soapier, it was immediately apparent he was the glue that help the sacchrine in place. After battling — and beating — Hodgkin’s lymphoma, I’ve wanted him to make a great comeback in a show worth his talents. Alas, when Watson returned to television, he’s strandled with a show that’s so over the top and pathetically lazy that you can’t help but feel for him. Whenever he’s on screen, there’s a quiet energy and lightness about him and his surroundings; whenever he’s not, everything feels forced and hits with the thud of an anvil on Wyle E. Coyote. The overall writing and acting isn’t much better, cramming messages down our throats with labored performances and setting up situations even Lifetime wouldn’t touch. Barry Watson deserves so much more.

Best Halloween Episode: Last Man Standing

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Chaos Breeds Chaos 2017 Television Awards – Part 2

You’ve seen some of the more prominent awards (read Part 1), now let’s move onto some of the specialty awards.

Best Twist: This Is Us

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This Is Us — NBC

This Is Us spent the summer months advertising a new drama that revolved around four people who happened to share the same birthday. How these characters would be connected, if at all, was still unknown. As the premiered episode progressed, and we grew more invested in each character’s emotional baggage, we learned Kate (Chrissy Metz) and Kevin (Justin Hartley) were twins and Randall (Sterling K. Brown) was adopted. That in and of itself would probably have been enough to keep you interested for at least a few more episodes as the character’s grew.  But it wasn’t until that last five minutes, when a firefighter joins Jack (Milo Ventimiglia), who earlier lost one of his triplets, at the baby viewing window in the hospital saying he brought in an abandoned baby, and then they cut to some random dud hangin’ out in seventies clothes and smoking inside the hospital that everything came into focus with a twist this side of Lost, — Jack and Rebecca (Mandy Moore) are everyone’s parents!! — sealing the deal that this show was going to be must-see TV.

Best Non-Series Finale: Once Upon A Time

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Once Upon A Time — ABC

In what probably should have been the series finale of Once Upon A Time, everyone got their happily ever after: Emma (Jennifer Morrison) and Hook (Colin O’Donoghue) are happily married, Snow (Ginnifer Goodwin) and Charming (Josh Dallas) have a happy family, Rumpelstiltskin (Robert Carlyle) finally finds happiness with Belle (Emilie De Ravin)…. heck, even the evil queen (Lana Parrilla) gets to run off with Robin (Sean Maguire). The end was also a nice nod to the opening scene of the series when the little girl (Alison Fernandez) who’s been tasked by her father to protect the storybook finds her way to now older Henry’s (Andrew J. West) apartment, claiming to be his daughter and saying his family needs his help. It’s a terrific close to the loop of a fantastical series. But no, even with six main departures, the show will continue with this new story line. Where it goes, how they explain why Belle and Emma aren’t around even though Hook and Rumple are still regulars, I’m not sure. But my guess is, it would have been a much happier ending the show where they started instead of trying to milk some final cash out this waning property.

Best Milestone Episode: Arrow

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Arrow — CW

Arrow‘s 100th episode had a goliath task: not only did it have to appease fans of the series by delivering the right amount of nostalgia and call backs to what made the show so good from the start, but it also had to bring in elements from the super CW-Arrowverse crossover. In writing the episode so that the team members that were all originally from Arrow (including Oliver (Stephen Amell), Thea (Willa Holland), Diggle (David Ramsey), Sara (Caity Lotz) and Ray (Brandon Routh)) were abducted by the Dominators, the team behind Arrow was able to accomplish both quite nicely — although it could be argued that in relation to the crossover, the episode felt more like a distraction. For fans of Arrow, it was great seeing all of the characters from the past in what amounts to Oliver’s own Flashpoint, in which he got to see life as it would have been had he and his father were never shipwrecked. It gave us all enough callbacks to the first few seasons with quick flashes from different characters as they learned they were being manipulated, and moved the show forward at the same time it settled into the crossover and pushed toward the conclusion in Legends of Tomorrow.

Most Insane Producer: Max Landis

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Max Landis

If you have ever seen Max Landis in an interview, no explanation is needed for the ideas that seem to generate in the man’s head. With being a co-creator and occasional writer on Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency and a producer on Channel Zero: Candle Cove, Max Landis brought the weirdest, creepiest, most bizarre characters to life this season — and it was mesmerizing to watch. He may seem like an odd duck, but his imagination is one magnificent, original hell. I can’t wait to see what genius he has in store for the future.

Most Sentimental Moment: Gibbs (Mark Harmon) hugging Palmer (Brian Dietzen), NCIS

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NCIS – CBS

Leroy Jethro Gibbs has never been the sentimental type. Yes he has shown his affection in different ways, such as kissing Abby (Pauley Perrette) on the cheek like a daughter or slapping DiNozzo (Michael Weatherly) upside the head like a son, but he’s never shown true, loving affection. This revelation came out during the episode titled, “Keep Going”, which focused on lovable Medical Assistant Jimmy Palmer (Brian Dietzen). When Palmer attempts to talk a kid who just lost his father from jumping off the ledge of a building, insights into how Jimmy sees all of his co-workers, including the harder than nails Gibbs, come to light. Palmer even goes so far as to talk about Gibbs’s wife and child, still a sore subject for Gibbs even after all this time. At one point he mentions that Gibbs has never hugged anyone, even when they sort of expected or needed one. But that’s Gibbs. So what a powerful moment it was when Palmer tries desperately to apologize for some of what he said, and Gibbs in true Gibbs fashion doesn’t say a word; he just pulls Jimmy in for one of the most sentimental hugs on television.

Best Homage: Joe (Jeremy Maguire) Modern Family

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Modern Family — ABC

In an episode that saw little Joe trying to prove he’s just like his dad, Jay (Ed O’Niell), we also get a very subtle, blink and you miss it homage to another long-running Ed O’Neill sitcom. Sitting on the couch, watching television with his hand in his pants, little Joe just may have some Al Bundy in his blood as well.

Best Cameo Appearance: Lucille, Supernatural

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Supernatural — CW

Fans of Supernatural have been clambering for the return of Jeffrey Dean Morgan’s John Winchester ever since his final passing in season 2. Fans got a small taste this season as the actors payed homage to not only the character but the actor this season when a very special guest showed up for a quick scene. Ever since Morgan took the reigns of Negan on The Walking Dead, Jensen Ackles, Jared Padelecki and the producers of Supernatural ribbed Morgan by claiming that Big Daddy Winchester has used Negan’s most prized possession — his barbed-wire-laced bat, Lucille. On episode 15 of season 12, Lucille made her first appearance on the show, where Dean (Ackles) and Sam (Padelecki) come home after a battle carrying the bat. “Dad would have loved this thing,” Dean says. Ah, the metaness of it all. If we can’t have Morgan back on the show, this little wink was a nice surprise.

Too Soon Award: Michael Weatherly, Bull

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Chaos Breeds Chaos 2017 Television Awards – Part 1

It’s that time again! The Emmy’s are right around the corner, so herewith are the best of the best of the 2016-2017 television season. Remember, these are NOT picks for who should win the Emmy’s — that show is so biased, I can’t watch! These are awards I give for the best and worst moments of the television season from the shows I actually watch (so no Game of Thrones or Empire moments; sorry). So please, leave your comments and choices in the comments section at your leisure. (For more fun, check out 2015-1016, 2014-2015, 2013-2014 and 2012-2013 awards.)

Best New Series: This Is Us

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Movie Mayhem – Home Again

Back in the early 2000s, Reese Witherspoon was the go-to girl-next-door. She was adorable sweetness wrapped in a fun, lovable piñata of joy. Her rise to fame was quick, beginning in the late nineties and culminating in 2001 with her breakout film, Legally Blonde. For several years more years, she starred in a number of fun, lightweight romantic comedies with a few dramatic parts thrown in for good measure. But as fame tends to do when actors grow older — and new rising starlets started to take roles she normally would have secured — Witherspoon fell off the blockbuster map for several years, occasionally appearing in mediocre Hollywood tripe or small indie films where she could show off her Oscar-worthy talents.

As she continued to become yesterday’s news in Hollywood’s eyes, many probably forgot how lovely she is when she’s allowed to blossom with the right material. Enter Nancy Meyers, who also found some great success in the early twenty-first century as a writer, director and producer with romantic dramedies. Now, with the help of her daughter, Hallie Meyers-Shyer, who wrote and directed Home Again, the two romantic stalwarts have teamed to bring together a fun, lighthearted romantic comedy that does everything it’s supposed to do while never taking itself too seriously.

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Home Again — 2017; Directed by Hallie Meyers-Shyer; Starring Reese Witherspoon, Pico Alexander, Nat Wolff, Lake Bell, Jon Rudnitsky, Michael Sheen and Candice Bergen

Witherspoon stars as Alice Kinney, a freshly-minted forty-year-old with two kids, Isabel and Rosie (Lola Flanery and Eden Grace Redfield, respectively), who has moved back to her deceased father’s home after separating from her husband, Austen (Michael Sheen). Needing to celebrate her big day, Alice heads out to a bar with her friends where she meets Harry (Pico Alexander), a young, charming hunky up-and-coming director who takes an instant shine to her. The two hit it off and spend the night drinking, dancing and …. that’s actually it, since Harry gets sick before anything real can happen.

The next morning, Harry, along with his actor brother Teddy (Nat Wolff) and screenwriter best friend George (Jon Rudnitsky), accidentally meet Alice’s mother (Candice Bergen), who invites the boys to crash in their guest house until they sell their short film to an interested, yet weaselly — is there any other kind? — producer (Reid Scott). During their stay, the boys start to integrate themselves into Alice and her daughter’s lives in cute, harmless ways. They help cook, take the kids to school, and bond over screenwriting opportunities. Things get a bit awkward, though, when Austen finds out about the three strange men staying at “his” house and returns for a surprise visit to shake things up and reconnect with his wife.

As I mentioned, the entire film is quite harmless. No one is truly evil, and the subject matter plays everything as if Los Angeles is some sort of heavenly wonderland, where everyone is a friend and the biggest problem is the anxiety over one’s blessed love life. I’m not complaining about this rose-colored version of reality because the script and the actors make up for the fantasy of it all. Every actor is charming as hell and there’s no way you wouldn’t want to be friends with any of them (well, maybe the producer). The kids may not be the best of actors, but they are adorable and do just enough to keep from being too cloying or annoying. And kudos to Michael Sheen, who adds gravitas to the proceedings by being his normally smarmy self, elevating the movie to a place of slightly more than cotton candy fluff.

I especially liked the bonding that Isabel and George share over being aspiring writers. The two had some wonderful chemistry without ever being creepy and their entire arc felt the most real and genuine of any character arcs in the film. In fact, chemistry was not a problem across the board, as everyone seemed to really enjoy being a part of this entertaining story. Yes, there is a lot of manufactured conflict between Alice and her new boy toy, as well as between our trio of filmmakers as they begin to accept additional jobs outside of the core group, but these issues also seem harmless and do help build character among not only them but the rest of the cast as well.

For a movie that has film making, writing and acting as part of its core, Meyers-Shyer walks a fine line in making the film authentic, yet breezy. If it was too saccharine, it could have pushed the boundaries of the glorified movie industry; at the same time, if it wasn’t done well, it might have come off as disingenuous. Fortunately, Meyers-Shyer crafts a well done narrative that makes you feel welcome into this world and this family. There was one subplot involving Lake Bell as a rude socialite who hires Alice to decorate her place only to turn around and ask her to do menial jobs that doesn’t really go anywhere or do anything for the movie, and the majority of story lines felt a little too clean, ending with a gentle smile rather than an emotional bang. But everything else about the film was text-book romantic comedy, and it works.

There’s something to say about comfort food, especially in the cultural climate we’re currently living. Sometimes it’s nice to retreat from reality for a couple of hours with a movie that doesn’t try to make a political statement or be anything else but a sweet, charming, fun little getaway. Witherspoon may have been MIA from this type of film for some time now, but based on this new outing, it’s obvious she still has this genre wrapped around her cute, endearing finger, just as she does your willingness to trust her to provide you with a relaxing good time.

My Grade: A-

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Next week, new movies include American Assassin and mother!. If you would like to see a review for one of these, or any other film out next week, please respond in the comments below.

IndieBook Review – Transmuted

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Transmuted – A Sci-Fi Mystery by Robin Praytor

Science fiction has always been a vehicle for giving a twist to other genres. Whether it’s fantasy, drama, comedy, action or horror, science fiction has elevated these genres into a different realm by infusing aliens, spaceships, advanced and future technology, and time travel into those basic genres. In other words, if you to remove the “science-fiction” element, you’d still have a story to tell. When you’ve developed strong, relateable characters, created an intriguing plot and written smooth prose that flow across the page like butter across popcorn, you become invested enough to forget you’ve been transported to a different world and accept the weird things that come along with it. With her book Transmuted, Robin Praytor does just that – transports you to a world beyond our galaxy but keeps makes it fun enough to keep it grounded in a bizarre alt-reality.

Labeled as a sci-fi mystery, Transmuted takes place in the year 2519 on Dark Landing, a space station built upon an asteroid in the Zeta Quadrant. Due to the ability to travel through the vastness of space via wormholes, it’s not clear where Zeta Quadrant is, but it’s an outpost for traders from every galaxy to hang. The chief security officer of Dark Landing is Drew Cutter, a somewhat disgruntled man who seems to be fed up with everything around him, but still does his job with fierce determination — and a laxness for those he knows get in trouble but aren’t harmful to anyone. He runs the show with all the decorum he can muster and keeps his team, including Mattie, Curtis and Doc, in check and up-to-date on everything happening under his watch.

One day, there’s a massive explosion inside one of the docking bays. Drew and his team are on it, but there are dozens of questions, the most important of which is who planted the bomb and why. At the same time, Drew meets a wayward vagrant who happens to be an attractive young lady in disguise. She claims to be Letty, the daughter of a very important person in the intergalactic community who owns the company that basically built the systems the universe uses across its outposts as well as the security teams that run them. Letty tells Drew she was sent her to Dark Landing because Drew was the only person her father said she could trust. Unable to reciprocate that trust, he locks her up until he discovers some news that requires her help in sorting out.

The relationship between Letty and Drew is strong from their first meeting to the last page. Robin sets up a brother/sister relationship that stems on incest but clearly isn’t, as their is a soft spark regardless of how both ignore and/or refuse to acknowledge it. I think Robin may go on a little too much and harp on a little too often, though, about how Drew finds Letty obsessively attractive. After the first ten times, it’s like, all right, we get it; he’s infatuated with her. At the same time, this bombardment of fixation shows just how invested he is in her and plays well toward the end of the book, even when it starts to speed up a little too much and begins to spray the book with ex machina after ex machina to wrap things up.

It comes after Drew and Letty figure out what’s happening, and have basically solved the mystery, one which I did find pretty compelling, yet not complete… it’s as if Robin sort of gave up on her own mystery in order to keep the book from getting too long. She sets up several things three quarters of the way through that are never developed the way they could have been, and by the end, these developments sort of just dissolve away due to reasons that come off a little too easy and superficial. T the same time, the speed of the the last few chapters kept me from getting super involved, wherein the emotions that should have been brought out in us as readers are subdued because the stakes don’t seem as high as they should.

However, because of the interactions of the characters and the way Robin has developed them throughout the book, this quickened pace can be in a way forgiven. I like how each of the relationships grows and evolves, bridging the events with the heart of the book, which is the mystery. Robin does a good job at pacing the reveal of the answers, sprinkling them about at just the right times and just the right moments to keep us interested in the mystery itself and what’s happening and why. Because of this, the book moves at a pretty quick clip and does exactly what science fiction should do— make you forget that hooker monks, nanobots, wormholes and lifeless alien armada’s are at the core of a mystery surrounded by plenty of fun, intense action.

My Grade: A

Robin got into writing as a way to distract herself from the barrage of deadlines and to-do lists of her corporate life creating training materials and drafting legal documents. These stories demanded to be written, and like any good writer, she headed the call. Born in Michigan, Robin now lives in Phoenix, Arizona with her patient (and long-suffering) husband, and is in the process of completing her second novel.

Check out all of Robin’s social media platforms:

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Robin Praytor

Author Blog

Amazon Author Page

Twitter

Facebook

Goodreads

If you are an independent author and would like your book reviewed, let me know in the comments section with a link to where I can purchase the book. If I find it intriguing, and it’s something I think I’d like, I will purchase a copy and add it to my reading list. I will be doing one independent book review per month, so not all requests will be accepted.

Movie Mayhem – Leap!

The one thing animation studios must do in order to give their characters life is create emotion within the eyes of those characters. It’s not easy to do; even some real-life actors are incapable of producing any type of energy within their facial features. But they say the eyes are the window to the soul, and if you aren’t able to capture that essence, audiences are unable to connect with the character because they feel fake. And giving them a strong voice doesn’t help if their eyes feel like glass, or the features in their face don’t allow for strong, true emotion. This is the main problem with Leap!, a new animated film distributed by The Weinstein Company — no matter how fun the movie may be, it grows bland because the characters all feel too plastic.

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Leap! — 2017; Directed by Eric Summer; Starring the voices of Elle Fanning, Dane DeHaan, Carly Rae Jepsen, Maddie Ziegler, Mel Brooks and Kate McKinnon

The film revolves around two orphans: Felicie (Elle Fanning) wants nothing more than to learn to dance, and her best friend Victor (Dane DeHaan) is a wannabe inventor. After breaking out of the orphanage they feel is stifling their creativity, they head to France where they make a bet to see who can reach their dream first. After being separated, Felicie finds her way to a prestigious dance academy and through a series of fated circumstances, worms her way into competing to be the lead in the academy’s performance of The Nutcracker. But to earn her spot, it’s going to take a lot of work, a lot of stamina and a good heart. Is Felicie up for the challenge?

Meanwhile, Victor finds his way into an apprenticeship (well, sort of) of an inventor who is working on both the Eiffel tower and the Statue of Liberty. Yes, you read that right. The film takes place somewhere in the 1880s when both of these iconic structures are still in production (though the timing is a little off, based on the actual timeline of when the two iconic structures were built), and at least one of them is used during a finale chase sequence that seems a bit much when considering the overall atmosphere of the film. But the key to this final chase sequence is how both Felicie and Viktor find a way to use  their skills to escape the evil mother (Julie Kahner) of Camille (Maddie Ziegler), another student at the academy who wants desperately to win the lead in The Nutcracker.

There’s plenty to like about the film, especially the dance sequences. Whenever Felice is stuck in a montage of training, or in a dance sequence, the film comes to life. It’s clear that the creators of the film are true fans of dance, and at least one person was a professional dancer, able to make certain everything remained in tune with real technique. No matter how minor they may be, everything about these sequences, from the animation to the score and the choreography is spot on. It’s what’s in between that lacks the right amount of energy to keep us interested in the plot or the circumstances the characters find themselves in. And it all comes down to the plasticity of the characters.

I’m not saying there aren’t moments where we can feel the happiness, confusion, anger or frustration of the characters. When we are able to see those emotions, you start to connect with them on a deeper level. But the moments are so fleeting, when they return to their stagnant resting faces, or when the emotions displayed by the animation doesn’t match the emotions being delivered by the strong voice talent, things begin to feel off and a bit disjointed. It’s a shame because all of the main characters, including Felicie, Viktor, Camille and Felicie’s mentor and reluctant dance instructor, Odette (Carly Rae Jepsen), are all incredibly fun characters on the surface and could have really pulled off a magical fairy tale had the animation just lived up to their sparkling personalities.

It seems writers Carol Noble, Laurent Zeitoun and Eric Summer wanted to create a fun, lighthearted film about pursuing your dreams no matter the obstacles and working hard to achieve those dreams and never giving up, and they succeeded when thinking of it in that context. However, the road to learning those lessons is paved with cotton candy – everything is just far too easy and the obstacles are never truly that hard. No one in the film ever seemed to get a comeuppance worthy of their characters. For example, after arriving at the academy, Felice meets a hot young male dancer that takes a liking to her. He’s as arrogant as they come, but because she’s so engaged with his talent, she can’t see the forest through the trees. When she agrees to go out with him and finally sees his true colors, the whole arc just ends without any consequence or flair whatsoever.

What’s worse is the rivalry between Felicie and Camille. It starts out well, with Camille being as overconfident and spoiled as all get out, and her relationship with Felicie is a good hook, but then she goes missing for half the film. By the time she returns, the rivalry just seems so unimportant that when the climax occurs, there’s no depth to it. I probably could have overlooked this if I had been more invested in the characters, but as it is, the flaws are far more blatant, including how almost every character speaks in an American accent despite the film taking place entirely in France.

I can’t help but think had the film been made by Disney or Pixar (or Dreamworks for that matter) that it would have been a stellar piece of animation. That’s the difference between what they do and what the final product was. Whether it’s a toy, a car, an animal, a monster, a robot or a human, these companies understand how to capture the emotion that is necessary for connecting with an audience. Leap! comes close to being on that level in many respects, but fails to do so where it counts.

My Grade: B

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Next week, there are no new wide releases. If you would like to see a review for a film currently out that I have yet to review, please respond in the comments below.