Check out my comments on season 1 if you missed it.

My understanding of the popular consensus regarding season 2 of The Wire is that it’s the weakest of the bunch. It is an important part of the overall canon, but as far as entertainment value goes, it’s just OK. I still have three seasons to go, so it’s hard for me to say at this point where it will ultimately end up, but I didn’t think it was all that appreciably different than season 1.

Season 2 picks up where the very nicely wrapped up season 1 finale left off. Most people were on to new/different things, some good, some bad. The way season 1 ended, and the way that people have told me that each season is kind of it’s own thing, I actually thought we might have seen the last of lot of the characters in season 1, but that was not at all the case. Season two picks up on the docks, and mostly focuses on a storyline there, but the rest of the dealers from season one are around enough to keep them in the story.

The detour to the docks feels like the kind of thing that most shows would do in like a 3rd or later season, so it was cool to see David Simon go down that road so early on. The story in The Wire so far has lived up to the billing, just spectacular. The pacing and evolution of arcs is continually done in a way that seems to be unmatched. Breaking Bad is ridiculously exciting, but at times get’s crazy. Mad Men has gone off the rails a few times, and especially lately it seems like that show is slipping. It’s too soon to compare it to The Sopranos, but it’s very good.

“That guy” Chris Bauer shows up during season 2, and has a major role. I do not know if they could have find a more perfect guy to play the character he did. Paul Ben-Victor from two of my favorites Entourage and In Plain Sight shows up as well. As does Amy Ryan who had a stint on The Office and Michael Scott’s (presumed) wife. They are all really solid characters and offer up a nice change of pace of the regular cast, most all of whom returned.

Jimmy McNulty continues to basically be the main character of this series, and while he seems to fit a number of typical TV cop stereotypes¹, he is supposedly based on a real person. It’s going to be really interesting to see how his story turns out.

The prison scenes are great, and it surprised me a bit that the story continued to follow Avon and D’Angelo Barksdale because it seemed like when they went away that might be it for them. The appearance of Brother Mouzone was interesting, as he is a strange and wild character. He doesn’t hang around long, so I assume we haven’t seen the last of him either.

Overall, I really enjoyed season 2, and didn’t think it was as lame as most people make it out to be.

1. Alcohol, separated, married to his work and always trying hard to do what’s "right

The Wire is considered by many, along with The Sopranos to be one of the greatest television shows ever, and certainly one of the pioneers of the so called “golden age of television.” I had never seen an episode, but as a huge fan of The Sopranos, Breaking Bad and Mad Men I had a high level of faith that I would enjoy it. The show was created by David Simon, who first did the show Homicide: Life on the Street in the early ’90s, a show that ran for 122 episodes and 7 seasons. He has since gone on to do the HBO show Treme, which I am a huge fan of, despite most people finding it to be a little boring.

The first thing that jumped out at me about The Wire DVDs is that they are not in HD. The first season of the show came out in 2002, which was just as HD was gaining steam. Supposedly the show was shot on film, which means that it should be able to go to HD just fine, but for some reason they opted not to do so. The Sopranos debuted a couple of years before this show, and by this time in The Sopranos HD was in full swing I believe. The non-HD factor, coupled with that fact that during the first season pages and pay phones were used extensively, it really makes you realize how long ago 2002 really was¹.

The first season, like most, does a lot to setup characters and arcs for the future. The main character of the show is a very stereotypical police detective named Jimmy McNulty² who is divorced, and a bit of an alcoholic, but a good and ethical detective for the most part. McNulty gets put into a special task force to investigate Avon Barksdale, a drug kingpin in the Baltimore area. Throughout the season we meet lots of other cops and dealers, including many recognizable faces like Omar, who is played by Michael K. Williams (Chalky White from Boardwalk Empire) and Wallace (Michael B. Jordan a.k.a. Vince from Friday Night Lights).

The show is good, but after one season hasn’t quite shown me to be the “greatest show ever.” That makes sense since that doesn’t just happen overnight, but it definitely has some potential. For as much as people make Treme out to be so boring, this show isn’t all that action packed. It doesn’t have the same heart rate raising pace as Breaking Bad and is much more slow and methodical than expected. That is not a bad thing, because the show is compelling, the characters are solid and the stories are put together very well. It’s a little confusing in the early going understanding who is who and how everyone is related, but it definitely get’s easier as things go.

Some of the potential of the show is seen in the fact that there are no bad story lines, and no characters you cringe at seeing when they come on. Like Treme, it’s paced in a way that every plot twist and character development is carefully calculated and orchestrated. There aren’t a lot of crazy out of nowhere turns and nothing feels forced.

I am definitely pumped to plow through the remaining four seasons, although I have been warned that season two is the slowest/weakest of the bunch. The show is definitely on it’s way for me though.

1. So much so, that at one point I thought perhaps this show was actually supposed to be mid-’90s until they made a couple of 9/11 references
2. Played by Dominic West who I know from the Mark Wahlberg movie Rock Star

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Running Time: About 34 minutes

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The Doors

This is an Oliver Stone movie made in 1991 and starring Val Kilmer as The Doors’ frontman Jim Morrison. I was never much a fan of The Doors. Their hits are great, but all in all their catalog doesn’t do a lot for me. While this movie is called The Doors, it really appears to be much more about Jim Morrison than the band itself. The history of the band is just touched on a bit, and the movie skips ahead to many key Morrison moments.

There were some nuggets I learned, including the reason The Doors were not invited to to play Woodstock: Morrison’s penchant for committing indecent exposure violations. One would presume that anyone that dies at age 27 of a drug overdose would be a little messed up all the time, I was a bit surprised by how it never seemed to end with Morrison, until his untimely death.

The film on it’s own is OK. Kevin Dillon (a.k.a. Johnny Drama) plays the drummer. Kyle MacLachlan of Melrose Place, Showgirls and Desperate Housewives plays the keyboardist. Meg Ryan plays Morrison’s girlfriend. Kathleen Quinlan plays his other girlfriend. Michael Madsen and Billy Idol play his friends. I definitely learned something, but overall the movie wasn’t all that great. I am sure my indifference towards The Doors themselves contributes to this.

The Kids Are Alright

A documentary from 1979 about my favorite “classic” rock band of all-time, The Who. The documentary is mostly comprised of concert/television performances, almost all entire songs. There are also other TV appearances with interviews. The documentary doesn’t serve as any sort of history of the band. The interviews mostly involve guitarist Pete Townsend and drummer Keith Moon, with very little words from Roger Daltrey or John Entwistle.

The quality of the footage is very good, as is the audio, most of which from what I understand, is the original audio. Although the documentary was completed shortly after Keith Moon’s death, this incident is not discussed at all. Some of the clips of Moon and Ringo Starr doing an interview together are possibly the highlight of the film.

Although I was aware Moon was a immature/silly/crazy, I didn’t realize how much Townsend was as well. He cracks jokes throughout most of the clips and has some very solid moments of dead pan humor. Moon, who I later read had put on weight before his death, looked much older than the other three members despite the fact that he was indeed the youngest.

This was a very good documentary. The footage covers the peak career of the band and it’s entertaining and well made. It would have been nice to have dates or descriptions along with some of the clips, but it didn’t take away much from how good it is. It seems like a perfect 90 minutes for someone who doesn’t know the music/personality of The Who, but are interested to see it. This is the clubhouse leader for my favorite of the year, and will be tough to top.

The Song Remains the Same

Shot in 1973, this film consists mostly of concert footage for a few Led Zeppelin concerts. Interspersed within are several “fantasy” sequences, which are weird and strange and remind me of the film Easy Rider. They seem to represent some weird sort of out of body experiences that no doubt are meant to be experienced along with some sort of “herbal” enhancement.

The film does a nice job of showing Led Zeppelin playing in their glory days. Unlike The Who, Zeppelin formed in the late 1960s and thus were at the peak of their popularity in 1973. They strung together four amazing albums in their first few years, and this film contains most of the hits. Jimmy Page is one of the most iconic guitarists of all-time, and The Song Remains the Same includes several of his signature items, including the double neck guitar and playing the guitar with a bow at one point.

Robert Plant has some of the most distinctive sounds in the history of rock, and he belts out some amazing shots in this one. And of course nothing Led Zeppelin would be complete without a ridiculous drum solo by John Bonham. Included in Bonham’s dedicated sequence, were shots of his son Jason drumming as small child. Jason would go on to replace his father on Led Zeppelin tours after his father’s death.

The video and audio quality of this concert is excellent. And although another DVD exists, this one is basically of one concert, which always creates a different feel like spread out content fit together like the previously discussed The Kids Are Alright. It’s likely that all Led Zeppelin fans have seen this already, but for those who haven’t, or for those fans of rock and roll who missed this one, it’s definitely worth checking out.

The lack of a gameplay trailer at this stage would indicate that the game isn’t finished, and because release dates for these types of games rarely move at the last minute, the possibility of possible game breaking issues is higher than usual. For those unfamiliar with software development, often last minute changes to fix or tweak something can have unintended consequences that can get missed in last minute testing. This is the kind of thing that would lead to scenarios like some play on offense being an automatic touchdown every time, or superhuman players at a particular position.

It’s not just the lack of trailers though. There is a major lack of features and improvements being discussed. EA Sports has finally added some more camera angles, creating much better options for surveying more of the field. I personally love the hide, wide angle that lets you see exactly where receivers are relative to zone coverage. The “infinity engine” that was added to the Madden series last year will be included this year. This promises to improve running and open field play. The fact that there is a much bigger emphasis on running option-focused offenses is good, since this has always been incredibly challenging.

The fact that no big “back of the box features” like Heisman legend mode, or Road to Glory have been announced means there is likely nothing groundbreaking there. For hardcore dynasty players, these kinds of things rarely matter, and added depth to the Dynasty mode, like improved recruiting, are always much more important.

I personally was planning to take a year off from this game, since I was so angry with last year’s version, and frankly am losing a bit of interest in video games in general. Then Denard Robinson had to go and get himself on the cover, and I am sucker for anything Michigan Wolverines. So barring the worst reviews in history, it seems almost certain that I will pick this one up at some point. With that in mind, here’s a quick list of give things I’d like to see:

1. Much Improved Option Offense – sounds like this is coming, but the option is my favorite thing to watch in college football.
2. Reasonable Defense – There have always been some problems with the defense. Either you have defensive backs who just can’t cover anyone, or linebackers who can drop back and knock down every pass. There has to be a happy medium.
3. Make Special Teams Matter – Never a blocked field goal, punt of extra point. Rarely a missed one of the former two either. Long kick/punt returns happen more than they used to, but still not often enough.
4. Penalties – Why is it so hard to see more penalties? I don’t really understand. A couple per game at best, and not nearly enough of certain kinds (has anyone ever seen a pass interference call where you didn’t just tackle the receiver?)
5. Roster Size – Why are we still using the unrealistic 75 man limit? It makes it much harder to play as a non-elite school because you never have depth. The next generation of consoles should have enough power to have 500 man rosters.

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Running Time: About 37 minutes

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• Game of Thrones: 3:00 to 19:00
• Pain and Gain: 19:00 to 25:45

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Co-Host: Chris (http://twitter.com/LionEsquire) Guest: Dave (http://twitter.com/dpbus)

Running Time: About 40 minutes

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One Line Description: A father goes undercover to get his son released from prison by gaining conviction of drug dealers.

This was the first movie with The Rock that I recall seeing all the way through. The premise seemed cool, and I expected a pretty off the hook action movie. That is not what this was. I get The Rock’s desire to shake the typecasting of “meathead action star”, but that’s not what I pay to see. This movie was good, but because the expectations were more action, it fell flat. This movie would have made a lot more sense with a 1995 Harrison Ford, or Dennis Quaid, or someone who couldn’t have just beat up everyone else in the movie. If you can get past the fact that this isn’t a typical The Rock action movie, you might enjoy it.

The Rundown (2003)

One Line Description: A bounty hunter searches for his boss’ son in the Amazon.

This movie is exactly the kind of movie with The Rock I was looking for. Ridiculous, over the top action scenes, with as little believability as possible. It was a very fun movie, even though the story was complete garbage. Sean William Scott continues to prove to me that he has a very low success rate as he failed to deliver any quality here. I have always had a crush on Rosario Dawson, but her resume is full of stinkers, and she doesn’t add a ton to this. This one is the very definition of a popcorn action movie, and is definitely a movie that requires no thinking.

The Slammin’ Salmon (2009)

One Line Description: A restaurant owner demands his wait staff raise $20,000 in one night so he can pay off a gambling debt.

The Broken Lizard comedy troupe created one of my all-time favorite movies, Super Troopers, before doing the mediocre Club Dread and then stepping it back up with Beerfest. This movie, however, is by far the worst of the bunch. This movie wasn’t funny at any point, and tried so hard at some points that I actually felt bad. There are a whole bunch of “that guys” that popup along the way, and Michael Clarke Duncan plays the restaurant owner. This movie could very well explain why Broken Lizard’s next movie, Freeloaders went totally unnoticed (although they weren’t stars of it). Slammin’ Salmon might represent the end of their mini-run, and that might be OK after suffering through this turd.

The Campaign (2012)

One Line Description: Two corrupt CEOs try to get their puppet elected to public office over the multi-term incumbent.

I am not a Will Ferrell fan. I had said it before, and it seems unlikely at this point that this will change. I continue to enjoy Zach Galifianakis most of the time. I had very low expectations for this movie, and it was definitely not great, but I laughed a few times. The fact that Dylon McDermott, Dan Aykroyd and John Lithgow have roles makes it even weirder. It felt like a very typical Will Ferrell movie and that’s why I wasn’t surprised Adam McKay had a hand in writing it. I know people like both Ferrell and Galifianakis who didn’t like this one, but that surprises me, because it had some moments. I think if you like those guys and the kind of movies they make you will enjoy this one.

The Station Agent (2003)

One Line Description: A shy “little person” inherits a train depot where a man and woman try to befriend him.

I only heard of this movie because of this throwaway scene from Entourage, but it’s very good. Peter Dinklage has risen to prominence over the last couple of years as Tyrion on Game of Thrones, but this movie was a decade ago. Dinklage is wonderful as the title character who moves away when his boss dies and the store he worked at was closed. He meets a food truck driver (Bobby Carnivale) who is overly friendly, and a divorcee (Patricia Clarkson) who is a little frantic. The three of them build an amazing bond in this movie that is very enjoyable to watch. The movie did remind me a bit of Treme in a sense, it’s very much about “people” and there isn’t much story here. There’s not really a build up to a big moment, so much as just character evolution. Some people don’t like that, but I found it to be wonderful. Michelle Williams and John Slattery popped up along the way as well. I really liked this movie.

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Running Time: About 32 minutes

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Co-Host: Chris (http://twitter.com/LionEsquire)

Running Time: About 31 minutes

Download: Direct | iTunes

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