Hoping For Something To Hope For

Weekly TV Watch (Oct. 20-26)

noreply@blogger.com (David Bishop) — Sat, 27 Oct 2012 18:41:00 +0000

Sunday October 21st

Once Upon a Time - "The Crocodile"

I really didn't like this episode very much. Here's the thing, I'm not a very big fan of the decision to replace fairy tale character roles with Rumpelstiltskin all the time. I don't want him to be Belle's beast. I don't want him to be Cinderella's fairy godmother, and I don't want him to be Hook's crocodile. Well, to be fair, I could almost handle the fairy godmother and crocodile thing, but the Belle's beast thing still just doesn't work for me. Here we have an episode where we get to learn more about Rumpelstiltskin's life in the flashbacks as well as how he's trying to redeem himself in the present. I'm all for stories of redemption, but I'm never quite certain if Rumpelstiltskin is trying to redeem himself, or if he's just playing everybody all over again. The other thing that bothered me was the age of Captain Hook. Captain Hook is supposed to be a much older guy. That's why he detests Peter Pan for his youthful spirit. Having Captain Hook look like some 20 something is one of the worst casting decisions since Kate Boswell for Lois Lane (and for the same reason). I also thought the blue screen effects during the Hook/Rumpelstiltskin duel were distracting. Overall, this has been the worst episode of the season for me so far.

D

Comic Book Men - "My Big Fat Geek Wedding"

I really do think that Comic Book Men is suffering from the reduced runtime. I think there were only two over the counter segments this week. The first was a man who came in with 5 long boxes of comic books. We didn't learn much about the books themselves, but we did get a lesson on how smoking can ruin the collection value of comic books. The other segment was for a man who came in to buy The Punisher's first appearance in Spider-Man. Here, we got a little background on the Punisher, and I did like Kevin Smith's observation that Marvel may have created Punisher in answer to DC's Batman to some degree. Other than that, we got to witness the guys head to an auction house to make a bundle buying things under their value to sell back at the store. It turns into a competition where the loser has to reenact the wedding scene between Reed Richards and Sue Storm from The Fantastic Four. It's not that any of these bits in the episode are bad, but I just feel like I'm not getting as much of the show as I used to get. Season 1 would have the auction house stuff, and at least 4 segments of over the counter trades complete with fairly detailed explanations of the items being traded. One of the reasons I do watch the show is to learn more about the world of comics, and this week felt a little disappointing in that respect.

B

Tuesday October 23rd

Go On - "Any Given Birthday"

I recently caught up with Go On because I felt like giving a new comedy a chance in lieu of the Community delay, and I figured Go On had the advantage of having Matthew Perry. It turns I actually really like the show. It can feel a lot like Community in the way it sort of makes touching moments of sentiment out of a cynical character. It's also got that ensemble production feel going for it. For those that don't know, it's about a sports broadcaster for radio that starts going to group therapy to deal with the loss of his recently deceased wife.

This week's episode was about how the group tries to throw together a scavenger hunt for Ryan (the sports broadcaster played by Matthew Perry) to celebrate his birthday. Ryan protests noting that his wife used to make elaborate birthday plans for him every year, and he always dreaded it. Eventually after urging from the group leader, Ryan decides to join in for the sake of the group. The evening sort of backfires when they accidentally stumble into one of his wife's actual birthday plans that she was planning before her death, and the group makes an effort to hide this news from Ryan.

This episode was actually really good. I know Go On is a comedy first and a drama second, but I feel myself drawn in a lot more by the dramatic bits. This week, there was a moment when the group leader, Lauren, told Ryan that he can use the group not only to recover from his loss but to become a better person than he was before the loss. Later in the episode, after making some breakthroughs in learning to be a better person for the group, Ryan imagines talking to his wife and mentions how he wishes he had been a better person when she was alive. It hit me then why he probably didn't like the elaborate birthdays she planned for him. In his heart of hearts, he may have felt undeserving of such expressions of love, and now he holds on to the guilt for not being a better man for her when it mattered. Ryan is a layered character that really does need this group to heal not only over the loss of his wife, but to work towards fixing a piece of him before the loss.

And yes, there were also funny bits in this episode, but those points of drama were especially strong this week. Hence...

A

Wednesday October 24th

Arrow - "Lone Gunmen"

It's the third week in for Arrow, and so far it seems to be sustaining the level of quality promised by the pilot episode. What I'm looking for from a really good superhero story is a blend of character attention along with the incredible action. Arrow seems to do just that.

This week, while Oliver Queen was trying to track down an assassin known as Deadshot, we had a not insignificant amount of time paid to developing the relationship between Thea and her mother (as well as her relationship with Oliver). I do like what the show runners are doing with Thea because she seems to be traveling down the same path that we know Oliver once went down. It's hard for Oliver to lecture Thea about her actions because he seems hypocritical, and it's difficult for her mother to lecture her because she's spent her whole life letting her daughter get away with murder. As much as I'm looking forward to seeing how Oliver Queen tackles the problems of the corruption in his city, I'm equally curious about how the relationship between him and Thea develops. That is the sign of a successful superhero show for me.

Aside from that, I was pleasantly surprised to see Dinah show off her 'self-defense' abilities. I know enough about the DC universe to know that traditionally Dinah is supposed to be The Black Canary, and this has been the first indication by the show that they may actually come through with that transformation. I imagine she'll be inspired by the Green Arrow's actions whilst being frustrated by the failures of the city's own legal system. In any case, I look forward to it.

If there was one thing that I was disappointed with in this episode, it was Dead Shot. For a character as big as Dead Shot, I was expecting a little more development. I'm hoping that his supposed 'death' at the end of the episode is a fake-out (I'm pretty sure it is) because I just don't think they milked that character for all that he was worth really.

A-

Thursday October 25th

The Office - "Here Comes Treble"

This year's Halloween episode was a delight to watch. I liked how they found a way to incorporate Stephen Colbert as a guest star. I liked seeing the conflict between Pam and Jim because I think it adds some much needed friction between the couple. I thought the cold open with Dwight's pumpkin head was pretty funny. I enjoyed seeing Toby's reaction to Nellie's Toby costume. Overall, this episode kept me entertained throughout in a way that almost reminds me of an older season.

A

Weekly TV Watch (Oct. 13-19)

noreply@blogger.com (David Bishop) — Sat, 20 Oct 2012 22:57:00 +0000

Sunday October 14th

Lancelot

Once Upon a Time - "The Lady of the Lake"

I'm a bit of a newcomer to the Once Upon a Time television series. I only recently got caught up with the show when the first season was added to Netflix. I'm also a somewhat conflicted viewer of the program since I don't exactly love it or hate it. I think the premise carries great potential, but in many ways, I get some of the same feelings I got during all of my years watching Smallville. Still, trying to stick with it.

"The Lady of the Lake" was actually a pretty decent episode. Between the flashback and the present day storylines, it was clear they were going for this parents will sacrifice anything for their children motif. The flashback was particularly touching in how Charming's mother was able to meet her daughter-in-law and give her quite a gift by the end. The Snow/Emma story in present day also carries some interesting dramatic points. It is a little bizarre to see a mother and daughter who are approximately the same age run through mother/daughter dramatic points. To contrast it all is the reminder of Regina's own evil mother. I'd say the weakest part of the episode was the StoryBrooke stuff.

B-

Comic Book Men - "Stash Bashes"

Unlike, Once Upon a Time, I've been watching Comic Book Men since around the time that it premiered the first season. Now the second season has started up, and I'm watching it once more.

It's hard to say how I feel about an episode of reality television. I'll just say that when I'm watching an episode of Comic Book Men, I expect to hear geeky superhero discussions dripping with hypotheticals, interesting bits of trivia on the items brought into the store, and I'd like to laugh a few times as well.

That being said, I was disappointed to find that this season of Comic Book Men has a shortened runtime. The first season episodes all clocked in at an hour with commercials, but not it's a half-hour show. On the other hand, the debut episode did seem to fulfill most of what I've come to expect from the show. It did spend a lot of time setting up the story for hosting a children's birthday party inside the comic book store which goes just as you might expect. I'm a little disappointed by the reduced runtime since it means less scenes of people coming in with their collectables to make way for the story of the week (in this case the birthday party).

B

Wednesday October 17th

Arrow - "Honor Thy Father"

If you had told me a couple weeks ago that a new program on The CW would become one of the most anticipated shows of my weekly watch, I would have laughed in your face. Sure this is the network that once under the names The WB and UPN carried such personally adored programs as Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Dawson's Creek, Angel, Veronica Mars, and even Smallville (for the early seasons at least), but lately the network hasn't stood out as offering me anything that looked the least bit appealing. The news that this new show being about a DC superhero wouldn't exactly win me over after my experience with Smallville, and yet... It is incredibly entertaining.

The second episode of Arrow was around the same caliber of the first episode, so it doesn't look like Arrow is one of those shows where the pilot is the best thing they'll ever do (looking at you Glee). Oliver Queen continues his quest to rid his city of the injustice that plagues it whilst trying to find a way to balance his new calling with his public face and personal relationships. It's still great drama and great action. I look forward to learning more about how Queen acquired his talents as well as where he will take us week after week. The CW, you've done really well here.

A-

Thursday October 18th

The Office - "Work Bus"

Still loving The Office. This episode had Mr. Bryan Cranston on as a guest director. I know guest directors don't really have that much influence on a show like The Office, but it's a nice detail nonetheless. I did think this episode was pretty good. It got a few laughs out of me, and I liked the dramatic points between Jim and Pam, Jim and Dwight, and Andy and Nellie. A pretty solid half hour for The Office.

A-

Hopefully when I continue this feature next week, I'll remember to take notes on these episodes to make these 'reviews' actual reviews. I may also expand it to include any shows I'm watching on Netflix as well.

Coming Soon: Backwards

noreply@blogger.com (David Bishop) — Tue, 14 Aug 2012 23:46:00 +0000

Callin' this one a maybe. It's on my radar, but I'll have to wait to either see more of it, see how it's received critically, or see if a friend recommends it. Not often I get to see Dawson Leery anymore.

OWENS: Limitless (2011)

noreply@blogger.com (David Bishop) — Tue, 14 Aug 2012 00:00:00 +0000

I've said this time and time again, it's pretty fun to go into a movie that you haven't seen any promotional material for. That was certainly the case with this week's OWENS entry.

Limitless (2011)
Director: Neil Burger
Starring: Bradley Cooper, Abbie Cornish, Robert De Niro, Andrew Howard, Anna Friel

As I hinted at just above, Limitless is a movie for which I somehow managed to avoid all the trailers and tv promos for. It slipped right under my radar until I kept hearing it somewhat enthusiastically praised by various people in my social circles. There was even an episode of The Office where they watch the movie on the way to Gettysburg where Phylis asks "Isn't that the one with the guy who's limitless?" Going in, I wouldn't say I was ignorant of the film. I certainly knew the premise and that it starred Mr. Bradley Cooper, but the details and visual style were all a mystery. Anyway, I've stalled long enough. This is Limitless.

Limitless has a pretty straightforward plot. Eddie Morra (Bradley Cooper) finds himself in possession of a new drug that allows his brain to work to its full ability. He can access memories without hesitation and even use them to make new conclusions with a speed and determination that would make Sherlock Holmes envious. The two primary conflicts of the film are how can he use his drug induced abilities to better his life, and how can he avoid losing the pills that put him in this elevated state. Believe me, his new found focus doesn't go without notice from the world around him, and unfortunately that includes a mysterious man who follows Morra everywhere, a loan shark who blackmails Morra for a piece of the stash, and Morra's ex-girlfriend who can't quite make out what's going on with this writer who could barely hold it together enough to write a single page of his novel.

The first thing that I want to mention about Limitless is that Neil Burger definitely puts a visual stamp on the story. When a character takes the drug, it's matched with a first person shot accompanied by a fisheye lens as if to cement that this drug expands our perception of what is in front of us. Another common visual effect that achieves the same conveyance are the infinite zoom sequences in the film. The camera zooms in without stop for a seemingly endless amount of time without the normal depth of field issues that arise with a long zoom sequence. It's very surreal feeling and may even hurt the brain a little, but it all serves to emphasize that on this drug, the perception of the world is limitless. There are a number of other interesting visual elements that Burger brings to the table that definitely lift the movie out of mediocrity.

Other than that, the story itself does have some appeal, but I found it a little discomforting. Here you have this movie where the main character takes drugs which grant him a sort of superpower. And that's really where the movie seems to side in tone. There's a little more Superman than Requiem for a Dream in the way this drug story unfolds. The movie does deal with the negative consequences of the drug, but they all seem to come from no longer taking it. It's hinted at that this drug is not just something that amplifies brain function. It actually shapes you into a different person. Visually we're told this via two sequences when a character takes the drug for the first time and the audience sees two versions of the same person on screen. We're told this in the screenplay when a character mentions that they felt like a different person that did things they would never do while on the drug. So there's definitely some visit into the world of maybe this drug isn't such a great thing after all, but ultimately I felt that the movie brushed it aside in favor of it being at the very least a necessary evil.

The end result is a movie that looks and feels very cool, but confuses me on what it's trying to say. If this hypothetical drug existed, are we supposed to believe that it's something that should be taken? Certainly, there are weaker versions of drugs that grant us focus, but I certainly hope advocating a steady dose is not what the movie has in mind. I think the more negative aspects of substance dependance should have been explored to a much greater degree.

I'm getting a little sidetracked here, so let me try to get this wrapped up. Limitless is thrilling and visually interesting. Some elements of the story can feel a little clumsy, particularly toward the end, but overall, drug discomfort aside, I'd recommend people check it out.

Netflix Rating: Really Liked It

What is OWENS?

Always (1989)

noreply@blogger.com (David Bishop) — Sun, 12 Aug 2012 23:18:00 +0000

Pretty sure this isn't much of an announcement, but I'm a pretty big fan of filmmaker Steven Spielberg. That being sad, it's a little pathetic just how many of his movies I haven't seen. Today, I'll be writing about one of the movies I recently was able to check off the Spielberg to-watch list. Always was a pretty unique viewing experience because I really knew nothing about it going into it. It's rare for me to get that opportunity, and even rarer when it's Steven Spielberg at the helm. I mean, confession time, I still haven't seen Close Encounters of the Third Kind, but I've seen enough of it to have a general idea of what's going on. Not the case here, but I'm unsure if that worked to the film's advantage or not. This is Steven Spielberg's ethereal romance Always.

Without knowing much about this movie going in, it's difficult for me to gage just how much one of the main plot points would be considered heavy spoiler material. I'm going to assume since the plot point in question happens about a quarter of the way in that it's not too major. That being said, if you have your heart set on avoiding one of the major plot turns early in the movie, I suggest you stop reading. Still here? Good.

Always is a story about an aerial firefighter pilot named Pete Sandich (Richard Dreyfuss). Other primary characters include his girlfriend and dispatcher Dorinda Durston (Holly Hunter) and his best friend and fellow pilot Al Yackey (John Goodman). Pete Sandich is quite the cocky pilot and takes risks he probably ought not to. As his friend Al notes, the risks would be understandable if somebody's life was at stake, but that's just not the case here. Both Al and Dorinda urge Pete to consider relocating to an aerial firefighter training program in Colorado where he can become an instructor. Pete's reluctant until Dorinda pleads with him that she can't endure the stress of worrying about him any longer. Despite Pete's agreement to quit and take up a less risky position, an emergency call places him in the smoky skies once more, and in a dangerous effort, he manages to save the life of his friend Al at the expense of his own.

In death, Pete is greeted by a spirit named Hap (Audrey Hepburn) who soon explains that Pete's spirit will be sent back in order to guide new aerial firefighter in training. Though he can't directly interact with the world, he can attempt to communicate to the living in such a way that his words feel like their own thoughts. Complications arise when Pete learns that Dorinda is now living on the same training base as his new protege, and he has to decide how best to use the gift of his spiritual return.

Spielberg is pretty good at the heartwarming sentimental stuff. Always sure is full of a lot of that, and yet it didn't quite affect me the way that I thought it would have had I known the premise in advance. I mean, a dead guy trying to communicate with the people he held closest sounds like just the sort of thing to get my tear ducts working. The best reason I can point to for why it didn't really work was the somewhat chaotic focus of the plot. At first, it seems like Pete is simply training an amateur firefighter. The movie looks to be an inspiring tale of how a little spirit can turn a buffoon into a hero, but then it quickly switches gears when the ol' girlfriend appears. I think I was thrown by the way they set-up this amateur guy, but don't quite give him the pay off that I was expecting. On the other hand, I would have been upset if they just left the girlfriend tale at Pete's death. Maybe the movie was damned if it did and damned if it didn't.

Still, there were some heartstrings pulled as Pete has to learn the difference between doing whats best for himself and doing whats best for Dorinda or using this opportunity to tell her all the thing he never seemed to be able to while alive. The movie definitely takes the time to deal with what it means to hold on or let go to the people who've passed on. I just felt that it got bogged down by a lot of the training school plot elements.

Overall, I don't think Always was bad. The cast chemistry was fantastic, and the core of the story truly was something touching, but it didn't quite live up to the Spielberg degree of quality I've come to expect. There is an almost Capraesque old-timey movie quality to Always, which makes sense since it was apparently based on a 1943 film titled A Guy Named Joe. I might just have to check that one out someday, but for now, if I want to watch a dead guy come back to aid his grieving significant other, I'll stick with Ghost.
Grade: B-

The Green Hornet (2011)

noreply@blogger.com (David Bishop) — Sun, 12 Aug 2012 01:58:00 +0000

I had mixed feelings going into The Green Hornet a year after it's initial release. On the one hand, you've got Michel Gondry helming the project, but on the other you have Seth Rogen tackling the script. It's not that Seth Rogen is a terrible writer, it's just that his brand of humor doesn't land with me the same way that it does with others. When you mix in the lackluster response from critics, The Green Hornet soon became a "skip it" when it came out in theaters. However, I recently watched the movie and figured I'd try to write about it for a little bit on here if that's not too much trouble. This is The Green Hornet.

One disclaimer before I start: I had no familiarity with The Green Hornet characters before going into this movie, so any nods, winks, or homages to the previous incarnations would have been lost on me.

The Green Hornet is essentially a super hero story involving a dynamic duo. Seth Rogen tackles the role of Britt Reid whose compelled to fight for justice after the death of his father. Reid discovers that his personal car mechanic Kato (Jay Chou) has a number of assorted talents to help him in his compulsion. Together, they become The Green Lantern and his sidekick. Their plan is to fight crime in the city, but to do it under the guise that they themselves are criminals. Between Kato's mechanical mastery and his combat skills, it's quickly apparent that he's what makes the whole thing work, but Reid seems oblivious to this and even goes so far as to consider Kato inferior to his own crime fighting ways. Meanwhile, a crime lord named Chudnofsky (Christoph Waltz) sees The Green Hornet as a threat encroaching on his territory and puts much of his effort into killing the mystery man.

There were a few moments early in the movie in which I actually thought I was about to see a movie that I'd heartily enjoy. I liked the idea of vigilantes going out of their way to make sure the press the receive paints them as criminals in order to avoid having other criminals threaten innocent lives to stop them. I liked the idea of the frontman for The Green Hornet being mostly useless in comparison to his supposed sidekick. Unfortunately, the former didn't seem to get capitalized on much in the movie, and the latter was executed somewhat awkwardly. To expand on the latter, I found it unlikely that Kato would put up with Reid's ego for as long as he did. Yes, they address it in the movie, but ultimately, it made an unbelievable character out of Kato.

One redeeming feature of the movie was the opportunity to see how a mind like Michel Gondry makes an action movie. The action sequences in the movie are, at the very least, unique. Mostly The Green Hornet is pretty forgettable. It's not the worst movie out there, but I have no plan to ever revisit it except to maybe watch the action sequences out of context on Youtube.

Grade: C-

Coming Soon: Jack Reacher

noreply@blogger.com (David Bishop) — Wed, 11 Jul 2012 02:54:00 +0000

Seems a lot of people out there don't like Tom Cruise. Actually, that's putting it kindly. In my experience, there's a seething hatred for the guy. Still, I consider him an actor that will get me into the theater. I really love the choices he makes for the most part. He makes for a really good action star, and I look forward to Jack Reacher even though I know so little about the book series that this is apparently based on. Count me in for this one.

Coming Soon: The Great Gatsby

noreply@blogger.com (David Bishop) — Tue, 29 May 2012 23:42:00 +0000

What's there to say? The end of this year should be very fun for filmgoers. Between The Hobbit and the new Bond flick, I'm already a pretty happy camper. Add to that a new Luhrmann movie, and I'm completely satisfied. The Great Gatsby looks like a return to form after the very different feeling Australia (which I actually liked). I hear complaints that the music feels out of place in the trailer, but at the same time, two of Luhrmann's films (Moulin Rouge! and Romeo + Juliet) made good use of seemingly odd juxtaposition, so whether the music is actually in the movie or not matters little to me. All in all, I'm excited about this one. Time to reread Gatsby.

Triple Feature: Movies for which I'm probably not the target demographic

noreply@blogger.com (David Bishop) — Tue, 29 May 2012 01:35:00 +0000

This past weekend, I started taking advantage of the Free On Demand feature of my cable provider. As a result I ended up watching three movies that I had not seen before. After I finished the last of these three, I couldn't help but reflect on my choices and how I seemed to have picked three movies that my gender traditionally does not watch. In any case, I thought I'd come here and post something for a change. Here are some brief thoughts followed by a grade for each of the movies I saw.

You Again (2010)

Director: Andy Fickman
Writer: Moe Jelline
Starring: Kristen Bell, Jamie Lee Curtis, Sigourney Weaver, Odette Yustman, Betty White

To summarize it about as concise as I can, You Again is about how traumatic experiences in high school can follow you around for the rest of your life. In the case of You Again, the traumatic experiences literally seem to be following our leads around. Kristen Bell plays a young woman who was bullied pretty heavily in high school by Odette Yustman. Even though years have passed and Kristen Bell is being promoted to Vice President of a pretty successful PR firm in New York, it's not long after her old bully shows up that she starts to revert back to her less empowered self. Meanwhile, Jamie Lee Curtis has to deal with Sigourney Weaver's return into her life. They were friends/rivals in high school and that feeds into how they interact throughout the course of the film.

I will say this about You Again. I like the leads. Bell, Curtis, and Weaver are already actors whose talents I appreciate in any given film. There's only so much talented actors can do with an awkward script (see: Star Wars prequels/Twilight).

At the heart of You Again is something worth exploring, the way in which some people let what happened to them in high school follow them around. There can be a sense of empowerment when we see what bothered us so much then being reduced to so little now. I wonder if You Again's thematic content might have been better served if it had been approached from a much more dramatic point of view instead of as a comedy with mostly physical humor and an out of place romantic element for Kristen Bell's character.

Overall, I would not really recommend You Again to anybody. It's not completely terrible, but it's probably not worth seeing.

Grade: D+

13 Going on 30 (2004)

Director: Gary Winick
Writers: Josh Goldsmith, Cathy Yuspa
Starring: Jennifer Garner, Judy Greer, Mark Ruffalo, Andy Serkis, Kathy Baker

Moving on, let's go back 6 years to a movie that seemed like a spiritual remake to Big. Jennifer Garner's character is a 13 year old girl in the 1980's wishing she could be 30. She gets her wish, but the ol' "be careful what you wish for" expression suddenly becomes very apt. Garner is now 30 years in the present day (2004 that is), but her last memories before the transformation are of herself at 13. The result is a bit of a fish out of water story with many elements that do indeed play out a bit like Big.

After You Again, 13 Going on 30 was a very refreshing film. Unlike You Again, the comedic bits in 13 Going on 30 actually made me laugh. I liked the small twist on the Big idea by having her actually live her life up to 30 but just not remembering it (whereas Big was an instantaneous transformation to Tom Hanks adult mode). Both Big and 13 Going on 30 seem to emphasize the theme of appreciating youth. In 13 Going on 30, Garner focus on bypassing youth to arrive at 30 has more consequences than simply the fish out of water element. It's safe to say that the 13 year old version of her character doesn't like the 30 year old version of herself. It's very much a discover your inner child for self-improvement kind of movie.

I did really like 13 Going on 30. The dramatic points felt poignant, the comedic elements were often successful, and it includes a "Thriller" dance sequence. I'd watch it again.

Grade: B

Mean Girls (2004)

Director: Mark Waters
Screenplay: Tina Fey
Starring: Lindsay Lohan, Rachel McAdams, Lizzy Caplan, Lacey Chabert, Amanda Seyfried, Tina Fey, Tim Meadows

I don't know if it's coincidence or these movies were gradually wearing me down, but it would appear that the final movie was the best.

Mean Girls is most easily summarized as a movie about cliques. Our central character played by Lindsay Lohan was home schooled in Africa and now attends an actual high school for the first time in her life. In the beginning this makes her an objective observer of the whole system, but it isn't long before she gets caught up in the heated social environment.

Mean Girls is the only movie in this triple feature that I actually feel like I learned something from. There's a bit of clique deconstruction going on here as well as an analysis of female aggression in high school. It was something I had to learn about in one of my many education courses to become a mathematics teacher. Whereas male aggression is much easier to spot via the violence, female aggression is a lot of behind the scenes talk which can often times be just as damaging (if not more so in some instances). Because of the subject it tackles, Mean Girls is already a pretty engaging film for me.

I really liked the evolution of Lindsay Lohan's character. The move from objective bystander to mean girl happens gradually but believably. I feel one of the strongest features of the movie is the way in which it shows how easy it is for these girls to fall into these roles. It creates a sympathetic character in Lohan despite her fairly unsympathetic choices. I also really liked the cast in general. The most stand-out side character for me was Amy Poehler as the 'cool' mom.

I think Mean Girls is the only movie of these three that I would actively recommend to people. I think the clique deconstruction is spot on if not educational, and not many movies get to show how cool a math teacher can be. Thank you Tina Fey!

Grade: A-

Coming Soon: Skyfall

noreply@blogger.com (David Bishop) — Tue, 22 May 2012 22:53:00 +0000

Pretty excited about this one. I have a bit of a relationship with the Bond movies. My high school years featured a fanatical obsession with the character that eventually faded over the years, but the reboot of the character via Casino Royale managed to keep my fanaticism from completely disappearing. I'm one of the few who even thought Quantum of Solace was a pretty decent Bond flick. As for this film, it definitely looks impressive so far. I wouldn't expect anything less from director Sam Mendes. I do find it interesting that the teaser is going The Dark Knight Rises route of dramatic silences.

Coming Soon: The Dark Knight Rises (Trailer 3)

noreply@blogger.com (David Bishop) — Wed, 02 May 2012 00:30:00 +0000

Most are already talking about it, so you've probably either seen the trailer by now or are waiting to see it on the big screen with The Avengers. There's really nothing to say. Of course I'm excited about the movie. Of course I'll see it- most likely several times. It's not often that a movie series as popular as this will definitively decide to end things in advance. The whole idea of this being a conclusion to Nolan's Batman trilogy allows for some dramatic arcs that we don't see done in mainstream superhero movies. Not only am I excited about this one, but I can't also help but feel elated that this is the writing team behind the next Superman movie.

OWENS: Hoosiers (1986)

noreply@blogger.com (David Bishop) — Wed, 02 May 2012 00:00:00 +0000

There's nothing quite like the motivation to scratch a movie off the ol' must-see-before-I-die list. This week's movie has been on my instant queue for quite awhile, and it's been on my aforementioned list for longer than that.

Hoosiers (1986)
Director: David Anspaugh
Starring: Gene Hackman, Barbara Hershey, Dennis Hopper, Sheb Wooley, Fern Persons, Chelcie Ross, Robert Swann, Michael O'Guinne

I have an interesting relationship when it comes to sports dramas. I can name quite a few that I like, and yet I don't watch sports. You'll never catch me lingering around ESPN on any given day, but a good sports drama will have me riveted without much difficulty. The TV series Friday Night Lights is, for me, the shining star of the genre, so it's now become the standard to which I judge most others. When I'm watching a sports drama, I want an equal amount of focus, if not more, on the characters than the game itself. So, now knowing what I'm looking for, are you curious to see what I thought of the beloved Hoosiers?

Set in a small Indiana town in the early 1950's, Hoosiers is about the new high school basketball coach named Norman Dale (Gene Hackman). Dale comes in as an outsider to this small town and is met with a mostly cold reception. The town has a bit of an obsession with its high school basketball team, and they don't appreciate how Norman Dale keeps the practices closed off to the public and doesn't spend much time listening to their 'advice' on how he should play the team. The first half of the movie is about him overcoming the town's growing dislike of him, and the second half is mostly about bringing the team to the finals.

There's a lot to love in Hoosiers. I for one, really love the idea of an outsider facing so many obstacles. He brings in a fresh way to do things, and the townsfolk don't know what to make of it. It's cliched, but it's cliched for a reason. The early drama of the film is actually my favorite part of Hoosiers. Norman Dale's character is the focal point of the movie for me. We learn that he assaulted one of his players when he was a college coach in New York. As he psuedo-recruits a student for the basketball team, he reveals that he used to be the kind of guy who would do anything to win. He seems to have grown as a person between the events in New York and him coming to Indiana. Dale gets that he's been given a rare second chance in life, which is probably why he's so ready to give the town drunk a chance to redeem himself later in the movie.

While I did enjoy learning more about the complexity's of Norman Dale, I was a little disappointed that there wasn't as much focus on the players themselves. Each one has at most two character attributes that we're given but we don't really get to explore their attitudes towards basketball, Coach Dale, or living in a small town. Coming off a television show like Friday Night Lights has spoiled me. A TV show is given all the time in the world to give its characters proper attention, and now it feels a little awkward to watch a movie just move right on past them.

Still, Hoosiers is good. Hackman gave a satisfying performance for the lead, and the basketball season itself does hold interest even to somebody who's not really a big sports watcher. I'd recommend it to just about anybody really.

Netflix Rating: Really Liked It

What is OWENS?

The Legend of Korra: "The Revelation"

noreply@blogger.com (David Bishop) — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 20:16:00 +0000

"The Revelation"

Written by:Michael Dante Dimartino, Bryan Konietzko
Directed by: Joaquim Dos Santos, Ki Hyun Ryu

Plot Summary:

The Fire Ferrets, the pro-bending team consisting of Korra, Mako, and Bolin, are practicing in the gym for the tournament when the man who runs the pro-bending sport informs them that they'll need a good deal of money to afford entrance into the tournament. Strapped, for cash, Mako puts his lightning bending abilities to work in charging a generator to make some money, and Bolin tries to earn some dough on the street by getting his pet ferret Pabu to perform circus tricks. Bolin is approached by a Triple Threat Triad member who offers him a lot of money to help them on a security job. Bolin agrees reluctantly, but the money seems to have been the deciding factor.

The Fire Ferrets learn of the high price to enter the tournament

Bolin didn't inform anybody where he was going, however, so when Mako gets home from work, he has no idea where his brother has gone. He finds Korra training on her island, but she doesn't know where Bolin could have gone either. They decide to search the city together and find a kid who saw Bolin go with the triad member. With this information, Mako and Korra head to the Triple Threat Triad headquarters.

Bolin receives a job offer from a member of the Triple Threats

They arrive just in time to find that the Equalists, an anti-bending group headed by the mysterious gentleman known as Amon, have made off with Bolin as well as other key members of the Triple Threats. They give the Equalists good chase on Naga, Korra's polar bear dog, but they find themselves outmatched when their members use chi-blocking on the both of them, temporarily disabling their bending abilities.

Korra and Mako chase down the Equalists who've kidnapped Bolin

Knowing that the Equalists were behind the abduction of Bolin, Korra suggests they question the man heading the Equalist rally she had encountered when she had first arrived in the city. Information from the man is sparce, but they manage to find a flier which contains a somewhat secretive map for a much larger Equalist rally which promises to bring some form of revelation.

Korra and Mako 'question' an Equalist on the whereabouts of Bolin

Korra and Mako sneak into the rally posing as Equalists, and manage to witness Amon reveal his intention to eliminate benders from the world. Not by killing them, but by removing their abilities. Despite the Avatar being the only one who can remove somebody's bending, Amon demonstrates that he too possesses this ability by permanently clipping benders on stage. Korra and Mako spot Bolin on stage, and quickly devise a plan to create a distraction and rescue Bolin from such a fate. They all get into a bit of a tussel with the Equalists but manage to escape. Amon orders his followers not to pursue, so that the avatar can spread the word of his power and intentions.

Amon removes a firebender's abilities during the rally

Thoughts:

The third episode of The Legend of Korra certainly lives up to its title: The Revelation. Here, for the first time, we're introduced to what will be the main threat of the series, The Equalists. The episode itself had a nice escalation to the revelation. We start out doing the whole pro-bending storyline. We might think this will just be an episode about getting money to enter the tournament, but it quickly becomes something bigger than that as we learn that the anti-bending movement is a lot more than a squabble of people in a park. The first three episodes together did a really nice job of peppering in the information to get to this point, so the actual revelation doesn't come out of nowhere.

So Amon is our new villain. In my opinion this is a superior villain to The Last Airbender. The Fire Lord in the original series just felt like too much of the classical "I wish to do ill for ill's sake" villain. For a series full of complex characters, I was surprised that more depth wasn't given to Fire Lord Ozai. In contrast, Amon seems like a very well written villain. So well written, in fact, that it's hard to understand why he would be considered a villain at this point in time. Based on this episode alone, we learn that as a child his family was at the mercy of benders who eventually gave him the Batman treatment and killed off his parents. Just from a sympathy point of view, I can understand why he'd be so angry. Then, he abducts members of criminal organizations who similarly use their bending to oppress the citizens of Republic City and takes away their bending. Seeing as how Aang made the choice to do the same to the Fire Lord in The Last Airbender, it almost seems like Amon is the force of justice and balance that he claims to be. Sure he seems to want to extend his method to all benders, but he's not advocating killing them, so I can understand why nonbenders would be completely swept up in the Equalist movement. So if any of that is sounding familiar to you, it's probably because you're aware of one of the main conflict points of the X-Men series. That too had many villains who almost seem convincing. The way Amon has been presented indicates a great deal of maturity that The Legend of Korra is bringing this time around.

One more thing. The music and choreography still show a new level of mastery in this series. The scene where Korra and Mako chase the Equalists and subsequently fight them is an excellent example of the show's quality. The combination of music and movement represent the best of what The Last Airbender had to offer and we're only in the third episode. Even the camera is given more to do during the fight scenes as they rotate around characters and make good use of the foreground and background. The Legend of Korra reaches a level of quality that I can't recall ever seeing in an American animated series directed towards a younger audience. I'm quite anxious to see what's next.

Comic-Con Episode IV: A Fan's Hope (2011)

noreply@blogger.com (David Bishop) — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 18:06:00 +0000

Available at a Video On Demand service near you is the latest Morgan Spurlock documentary Comic-Con Episode IV: A Fan's Hope. I just recently was able to view the documentary whose subject is about the famous San Diego Comic-Con via the Playstation Network video rental service, and I think I can briefly share my experience with the readers of Hoping For Something to Hope For. It wasn't but a month ago that I posted the trailer for the documentary noting that my anticipation for the film ran high. High anticipation has proved to be my downfall in the past, so is history about to repeat itself or is Comic-Con Episode IV: A Fan's Hope one of the rare films that delivers well enough to live up to the hype generated for it? The short answer is the film does not disappoint.

First off, Comic-Con Episode IV: A Fan's Hope is a documentary about passionate people. That's the kind way to put it. The blunt way to put it is to say it's about geeks. Geeks who love what they love to a degree often not deemed normal in their day to day lives, but when they come to the San Diego Comic-Con they are given the opportunity to see others who share the same level of fascination. I believe it was Joss Whedon who pointed out in the documentary that it's not even necessarily about being fascinated in the same things, but the recognition that somebody out there is capable of the same level of obsession as you are. That a Star Wars fan and a Star Trek fan can both appreciate the love they have for their respective passions. As somebody who has quite a few obsessions myself and who has attended the San Diego Comic-Con, I can attest to that being exactly the feeling I had, so already the documentary has touched on something that I recognize as a truth.

Aside from the more general subject of Comic-Con of which it covers in a very reasonable amount of detail via interviews from a diverse pool of people, the documentary uses various people as archetypes for the attendees of the convention. There are a couple artists who are attending the convention to show off their portfolio in the hopes of becoming a comic book artist. There's a costume designer who wishes to show off her talent during the Comic-Con Masquerade, a collector who needs to be first in line to buy his latest target of acquisition, a man who wishes to propose to his girlfriend during a Kevin Smith panel, and a comic book retailer who's trying to cope with the downward sales of comic books and whether Comic-Con is a profitable enough trip to make to sell his stash. The stories are an interesting look into how the convention is viewed from multiple perspectives.

This does feel like a very well put together documentary. The absent narration of filmmaker Morgan Spurlock might be a first for the movies of his I've seen, but that's not to say Comic-Con Episode IV: A Fan's Hope does not have a voice. The movie is a love letter to the geeks of the world by investigating the subject of one of the world's biggest fan conventions, and I think that's shiny.

The Legend of Korra: "Welcome to Republic City / A Leaf in the Wind"

noreply@blogger.com (David Bishop) — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 23:00:00 +0000

There hasn't been enough television talk on this blog lately, so I guess it's good fortune that a new television series just premiered that I'm entirely eager to watch. Moreover, after the first two episodes, I feel that it has every indication of delivering all that I anticipated from it. So stay tuned to Hoping For Something to Hope For to see my take on each episode of The Legend of Korra, the sequel to the hit Nickelodeon series Avatar: The Last Airbender. I don't think I need to say it, but I will just to be safe. Since this is a sequel series to Avatar: The Last Airbender I'm sure there will be numerous spoilers for that series in these posts as the events in that series directly affect the world of The Legend of Korra.

"Welcome to Republic City"

Written by:Michael Dante Dimartino, Bryan Konietzko
Directed by: Joaquim Dos Santos, Ki Hyun Ryu

Plot Summary:

Before the episode even starts, we're given a new introduction where Aang's son Tenzin quickly brings us up to date on the happenings of the world since the original series ended:

When I was a boy, my father, Avatar Aang, told me the story of how he and his friends heroically ended the 100-year war. Avatar Aang and Firelord Zuko transformed the Fire Nation Colonies into the United Republic of Nations, a society where benders and non-benders from all over the world could live and thrive together in peace and harmony. They named the capital of this great land Republic City. Avatar Aang accomplished many remarkable things in his life, but sadly, his time in this world came to an end, and like the cycle of the seasons, the cycle of the avatar began anew.

We begin our story in the Southern Water Tribe where we promptly meet the newest avatar incarnation named Korra. Even as a small child she shows prowess in bending the elements of earth, fire, and water, and she doesn't lack for confidence. The episode quickly fast-forwards to her teenage years where she stands before the White Lotus elders that are currently evaluating her training for fire as she has already, at this point, completed training for earth and water.

Korra, the new avatar voiced by Janet Varney

Though the elders declare her firebending training complete, ready to learn the next element air, she's reprimanded by many of them for being overconfident and out of touch with the spiritual side of bending. The only one who seems to show overall approval is Katara, a familiar face even if it's aged considerably since her adventures with Aang. The hope is that Korra's airbending teacher Tenzin, son of Aang and Katara, can help her in that regard, but when Tenzin arrives at the Southern Water Tribe he reveals to Korra that he will be unable to stay and teach her as his duties in Republic City have been more demanding as of late. Korra suggests that she simply go with Tenzin to Republic City, but he and the White Lotus give a resounding no.

Aang and Katara's son Tenzin voiced by JK Simmons

Following the rules doesn't seem to be in Korra's nature as she escapes to Republic City with her polar bear dog Naga (though she does so with the approval of Katara). Once she arrives in the city, however, Korra finds the city to be significantly different from the world she grew up in. She doesn't understand the barter system, gets in trouble with the law for fishing out of a public pond, finds herself in a heated argument against the leader of a local anti-bender rally, and even finds herself again on the opposite side of the law after taking down a few members of a gang shaking down a helpless shop keeper (though the collateral damage she caused in the process of taking them down was pretty worthy of lawful action).

Korra finds herself in a compromising position with the law

Tenzin comes to Korra's aid as she faces the criminal charges, and he offers to pay for all the damages and send Korra back to the Southern Water Tribe. Korra protests to being sent back and urges Tenzin to consider how much the out of balance city needs the help of the avatar. Tenzin eventually agrees, and tells Korra that he'll teach her airbending in Republic City. The episode ends when a masked man addressed as Amon (whose mask we had earlier seen plastered on posters at the anti-bender rally) explains that the avatar's earlier-than-expected arrival in Republic City will force them to accelerate his plans.

The mysterious Amon voiced by Steve Blum

Thoughts:

The very first episode of The Legend of Korra does what a pilot episode should do. It slowly orients us to the story by introducing the characters and universe that will be the focus of the overall story. Here we learn that Republic City is going to be the main stage for the events of the series, and we learn of at least three major problems: First, there is an anti-bending revolution starting up because people believe that benders are treated like higher class citizens than nonbenders. Second, despite the beauty and reputation of Republic City there's actually a great deal of hidden ugliness as we learn that there is a significant population of vagabonds. Third, the city has a problem with mafia members exerting their influence over the city. These are some of the problems that Korra will have to address over the course of the series, and I'm excited to see how these things will play out, particularly since the anti-bending revolution has a mysterious masked man behind the whole thing and having the course of the series centered in one city makes it feel quite different to The Last Airbender.

As a character, I think Korra is an interesting choice for the avatar. In The Last Airbender, Aang's main difficulty was growing up and finding how to put childish things behind him and accept his role as a the avatar. Some of the problems that plagued him grew out of his young age and his being raised by monks. In addition to the lack of maturity, he was also plagued by indecisiveness. Korra draws quite a contrast with Aang as she's extremely confident in herself from the beginning. She's very headstrong and you could already gain from the first episode that she rushes into things without thinking. She's also older than Aang was during his adventure, so her character is a bit more mature. I think the character differences will help make the series feel fresh since even if Korra were confronted with a similar problem from the original series, her reaction is likely not to be the same.

I think the Tenzin character is also a worthy addition. For one, having him be the son of two major characters from the original series helps in feeling connected to that story. For two, his serious and spiritual demeanor should contrast quite a bit with Korra's own temperament. I don't know if Tenzin will be a series long character or not, but I sincerely hope he is. The original series really had no adult main characters as they were mostly relegated to supporting roles. Having an older and wiser companion will once more make The Legend of Korra feel like a fresh series instead of a rehash of The Last Airbender.

I'm also really liking the overall step-up in quality the show has. The animation seems like it's exceeding that of its predecessor. Like The Last Airbender, The Legend of Korra manages to fuse American and Japanese style animation to create a style that feels unique. This time around, the choreography for the action scenes seems like it's improved which is saying a lot since the original series also had fantastic choreography. The music also seems much more dynamic this time around. They've kept on The Last Airbender composer Jeremy Zuckerman, but the music sounds like a different beast this time around. There's a scene early in the pilot where Korra takes her polar bear dog out for a run around the Southern Water Tribe where the music really took me by surprise with its beauty. There seems to be a maturity in how the musical score was handled this time around when compared to the previous series. It feels more cinematic.

Overall, the first episode of The Legend of Korra was very good. It introduced me to several elements of the story, it gave me action, and it did it all in a way that feels even better than the original series, and that's saying something. So I was very pleased the that premiere included an additional episode.

"A Leaf in the Wind"

Written by:Michael Dante Dimartino, Bryan Konietzko
Directed by: Joaquim Dos Santos, Ki Hyun Ryu

Plot Summary:

Korra's now living with Tenzin and his family on an island just nearby Republic City. At the start of the episode, we learn of Korra's fascination with the sport of pro-bending, a team based competition where benders face off against each other in an arena. Tenzin makes it known that such fascinations are a distraction and that the whole sport of pro-bending is a perversion of the sacred tradition of bending.

Tenzin's home just outside Republic City

Before we begin Korra's first airbending lesson, we learn that Korra has never been able to airbend, but Tenzin notes that it's normal for an avatar to have a weaker element just as Aang had difficulty in learning earthbending. The difficult element is usually the one most opposite the avatar's personality. During the lesson itself, Tenzin explains that airbending is all about spiral movements and that it's about reacting to the environment, much like a leaf in the wind. Tenzin's oldest daughter Jinora demonstrates this fundamental concept by moving through an airbending training exercise which has several spinning planks. The idea is to use spiral movements to move with the wind and avoid the resistance of the spinning planks (aka move through them without getting hit). Korra's inexperience with airbending becomes fully evident when she fails miserably at the exercise.

Korra faces the airbending training exercise

Tension between Korra and Tenzin increase after he catches her listening in to a pro-bending match on the radio and she walks away from him in frustration during meditation. It isn't long before Korra decides to sneak off the island and attend a pro-bending match in the city. She manages to break into the gymnasium where she finds herself in the company of a pro-bender named Bolin who invites her to watch the match from the dugout. Bolin's teammate and brother Mako complains about Bolin inviting yet another fangirl backstage. Korra is ultimately able to watch the game, but Mako doesn't bother to talk to her.

From left to right: Korra, Bolin, and Mako

So begins the first pro-bending match. Bolin, Mako, and a third gentleman make up a team known as the Fire Ferrets. (The specific rules are not entirely clear to me yet, though I suppose it will be clearer as I see more matches). It seems to be a fight for territory between the two teams each made up of a firebender, an earthbender, and a waterbender. You win the match when you manage to knock every member of the opposing team down into the water. The match we're witnessing comes down to a close call, but ultimately the firebender Mako manages to win the match for the Fire Ferrets despite the rest of his team being knocked out.

A pro-bending arena

After the match, Korra reveals that she is the avatar which changes Mako's attitude toward the girl. She asks Bolin to teach her some of his earthbending techniques, which he does. We cut forward in time to Korra attempting the airbending exercise once more, but when she fails yet again, she damages the ancient training device in anger. Of course, this enrages Tenzin who criticizes Korra's impatience in learning airbending, to which Korra replies that her not learning is more about Tenzin's terrible teaching abilities.

Korra damages a 2000 year old treasure

Korra then returns to the pro-bending gymnasium where she learns that the Fire Ferrets are missing a third member when their waterbender is nowhere to be seen and will have to forfeit the match. Korra volunteers to take the place of the waterbender to help Mako and Bolin. However, Korra's proficiency as an avatar does not easily translate to pro-bending where she's penalized several times for breaking rules, the most shocking of which is when she uses earthbending which reveals to the audience that she is in fact the avatar. The judges permit her to continue in the competition so long as she only uses waterbending. In the final moments of the match, when it appears that the Fire Ferrets are about to lose, Korra manages to apply her airbending training to dodge the attacks coming from the opposing team. They eventually tire themselves out and are easily overtaken which leads the Fire Ferrets to victory.

Tenzin and Korra reconcile

Despite his disapproval of Korra escaping the island to participate in a sport he had forbidden her from, Tenzin recognizes how his learning environment may have prevented her from learning airbending and even comes to accept the role pro-bending has as a teaching tool for her. This pleases Korra to hear as she announces she's signed on with the Fire Ferrets for the rest of the tournament.

Thoughts:

This was a pretty solid second episode for the series.

One of the first things I really liked about it was getting to see more of Tenzin's dynamic with his family. His three children have very different personalities. His oldest daughter, Jinora, seems to be the most intellectual, his younger daughter Ikki seems more inclined to play and have fun whilst also being pretty chatty as we saw in the first episode, and his youngest is a boy named Meelo who just seems off. There's a moment in this episode after Korra tells off Tenzin for being a terrible teacher where we can see how his children react. Meelo repeats Korra's words back at his father, but he's young enough that I don't think it should be taken too seriously. What I found particularly moving was the way his daughters went over to give their father a comforting hug. It made this family that I've only known for 30ish minutes feel all the more real. I was also fond of Tenzin's early request that his daughters promise him they won't be as rebellious as Korra when they reach their teenage years only to have his eldest daughter respond with "I will make no such promises."

And that leads into something else I want to bring up about this show. It has a pretty decent sense of humor. In the first episode, one of the funnier moments was when Jinora asked her grandmother Katara to explain what had happened with Zuko's mother, a mystery to even the most devoted viewer of The Last Airbender. Just as Katara is about to explain, Ikki interrupts and asks her if she can make snowmen move around using waterbending. The tease was pretty funny whilst also paying a little fan service. In this episode, I think one of the funniest scenes was when Bolin who had correctly assumed Korra was from the Southern Water Tribe because of her clothing only to second guess himself when he learned she was an earthbender. It plays out like somebody who's worried they may have said something racially insensitive which I found pretty humorous.

The inclusion of airbending training is something that I can already see will keep this show from feeling stale. One of the things missing from The Last Airbender was precisely that because there was only one airbender and he was already a master of it by the time the series had started. The Last Airbender's three seasons gave us plenty of training in water, earth, and fire but sadly little to no airbending training. I hope and look forward to any more airbending lessons that the show can offer. If they can do it in such a way that reminds me of Joss Whedon projects (leaf on the wind watch how I soar), I'll also be quite pleased. Speaking of Whedon connections...

I rather liked the development of the relationship between Tenzin and Korra in this episode. If for nothing else that it reminds me so much of the relationship between Buffy and Giles in Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The wise mentor having to teach a powerful girl with a heaping plate of responsibility whilst having to deal with the fact that she is in fact a teenage girl with a rebellious streak and interests outside the world of training. I really liked the way that relationship blossomed on Buffy the Vampire Slayer as both student and teacher learned to make compromises to become a better team, and I expect based on this episode, that we'll see a lot of the same developments here.

Overall, this show is living up to and possibly surpassing its predecessor. Can't wait to see what happens next.

8-Bit Features #17

noreply@blogger.com (David Bishop) — Sat, 14 Apr 2012 02:00:00 +0000

I feel so good about last week's being guessed so quickly and without hints that I'm going to bring back my special edition version of this game just for this week. This time the screen grabs are from video games based on movies. Tell me the movie that each one belongs to get the gold.

Rules:

Be the first to correctly guess the movie for each screenshot in the comments and be awarded

1 point for Image 1 and 2
2 points for Image 3

If any image has not been guessed correctly by Thursday, I'll post a hint in the comments.

Leaderboards:
Dylan - 8
Univarn, Wendymoon- 7
Andy the Time Lord, Rachel-6
Jess-5
DustinR-4
Chris Ulliot -2
Kirk- 2
Andrew Robinson, Vanessa- 1
Stumped-9

Image 1:

Image 2:

Image 3:

Read more to see last week's results:

Answer: It's a Wonderful Life (1946)
Correctly Guessed By: Kirk

Answer: Little Shop of Horrors (1986)
Correctly Guessed By: Kirk

Answer: Benny & Joon (1993)
Correctly Guessed By: Wendymoon

8-Bit Features #16

noreply@blogger.com (David Bishop) — Sat, 07 Apr 2012 02:00:00 +0000

Well, a two week extension and what I considered to be substantial hints did nothing to aid the last edition of 8-Bit Features difficulty. Dylan of Man, I Love Films did get two points for the hard one though putting him at the top of the leaderboard. I hope this week's is considerably easier.

Rules:

Be the first to correctly guess the movie for each screenshot in the comments and be awarded

1 point for Image 1 and 2
2 points for Image 3

If any image has not been guessed correctly by Thursday, I'll post a hint in the comments.

Leaderboards:
Dylan - 8
Univarn - 7
Andy the Time Lord, Rachel-6
Jess, Wendymoon-5
DustinR-4
Chris Ulliot -2
Andrew Robinson, Vanessa- 1
Stumped-9

Image 1:

Image 2:

Image 3:

Read more to see last week's results:

Answer: Labyrinth (1986)
Correctly Guessed By: Nobody

Answer: The Majestic (2001)
Correctly Guessed By: Nobody

Answer: UHF (1989)
Correctly Guessed By: Dylan

That's Debatable: The Firefly/Serenity franchise should be brought back

noreply@blogger.com (David Bishop) — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 19:29:00 +0000

It's the first edition That's Debatable. That's Debatable is a new series for Hoping For Something to Hope For. Two people debate issues in the realm of movies and television with at least some of the formalities of an actual debate. For our inaugural post, we tackle a subject that means quite a bit to us both. If you don't know about Joss Whedon's Firefly, its cancellation, and eventual feature film continuation Serenity, you should still be able to keep up, but beware because there are SPOILERS. Many fans of the Firefly franchise want it to be brought back as a television series or, more realistically, a film series. But should this happen?

Note: Each section of the debate was written simultaneously. That is, both Affirmative and Negative Opening Arguments were written without knowledge of what the other had written. Rebuttals are only aware of the Opening Arguments, and Closing Arguments are only aware of Opening Arguments and Rebuttals.

Affirmative Opening Argument:

The Firefly/Serenity franchise should be brought back -David

Firefly is a highly desired and beloved program. True, it was cancelled midway through its first season, but as more and more people discover the program, the reactions have been overwhelmingly positive. The average user score on Metacritic is a 9.8 (out of 10). Similarly, the IMDB score for Firefly is 9.5. When they released a DVD of the show, it stayed in the top 20 DVD sales on Amazon.com for over two years. In fact, the enduring fan response to the show’s abrupt ending ultimately allowed for a major motion picture to be made which would help wrap up some of the elements of the show that were left incomplete due to the cancellation. This film, Serenity, also received fairly high praise. It has a Metacritic user score of 9.2, an IMDB rating of 8.0, and a Rotten Tomatoes critic approval rating of 81%.

Firefly is an episodic series with stories to be told. Although the film Serenity was extremely entertaining and satisfying on its own, many fans agree that watching the show first makes the movie even more enjoyable. This is because Firefly is an episodic series where characters are always in need of more time to be fleshed out and explore dramatic arcs, a task that Serenity accomplishes for a reasonably decent portion of the main characters. The demand for Serenity in the first place was a result of simply wanting more of this episodic story told. While Serenity can work as an ultimate series finale to bring peace to most of the show’s characters, knowing Joss Whedon’s work with shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel, I’m certain there were many more stories to tell. These shows often had season finales that could double as series finales because of Whedon’s distrust of studios. It’s my belief that Serenity is a season finale that’s being forced into a series finale. There are more stories to tell, and maybe even new characters to encounter, and unfortunately, it all remains solely in Whedon’s head.

Joss Whedon can be trusted with the material. I acknowledge that just because Firefly and Serenity were great doesn’t mean that any further stories will be. For this, I once more have to point to Whedon’s other franchise Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Buffy the Vampire Slayer was a show that, in my opinion, developed very well. It lasted 7 seasons and even amongst the worst of them was still very entertaining. Whedon also accomplished a well done spin-off show, Angel, which in the world of television, is not so easy to do. Now, Buffy the Vampire Slayer continues its eighth season in comic book form, and it has mostly received praise. There have been other comic book adaptations of Buffy, but what makes this one so successful was the Whedon factor. Bringing in writers from the original series, the eighth season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer has retained much of the same wit and dramatic significance of the tv series despite its change in format. Similarly, Whedon has written some Firefly comics that are well received and retain much of the same wit and drama of the series. Whedon can be trusted to do justice to the Firefly/Serenity franchise in whatever form it’s “brought back” in.

Since Firefly is a beloved franchise whose very nature demands more stories, I feel that so long as Whedon is helming the project, Firefly/Serenity should be brought back.

Negative Opening Argument:

The Firefly/Serenity franchise should not be brought back -Dustin

For those who know me, this may elicit an eye roll, but I’m going to begin a debate about a media franchise with a sports analogy. In January of 1999, Michael Jordan retired from the Chicago Bulls and the NBA for the second time. In September of 2001, he announced that he would return to the hardwood to lace ‘em up for the Washington Wizards. Did MJ have every right to see if he could still play the game of basketball at the highest level? Absolutely. Did his lukewarm seasons with the Wizards in any way take away from his stunning list of accomplishments? Of course not. But I still feel that Michael Jordan should have gone out on a title team, not on a team that missed the playoffs. His lasting image lost a little of its shine after his fans watched him play two seasons of basketball that was good, but wasn’t Michael.

Similarly, fans of the Firefly franchise probably want to see more. Heck, if they created new episodes and aired them at 3:30 in the morning, I’d wake up everybody I know and make them watch along with me, despite the fact that I’m about to tell you how bad an idea that entire concept would be. Like children, sometimes we need to be shielded from getting the things we want. Here are four reasons why bringing back Firefly, as a series, or another movie, would be a bad idea.

From a pure dollars and sense standpoint, there’s no guarantee it would make any money. Yes, Fox completely dicked Firefly over, a fact for which I have yet to entirely forgive them. But the show still pulled low enough ratings to get cancelled. However, thanks to the wonder of DVD sales, the word got out about Firefly. Enough so that a major motion picture was made. The fans had done the impossible. And even after all of that, the movie brought in only modest returns. More recently, the super-publicized geek super-hit Scott Pilgrim vs. The World failed to draw fans as expected, so the legitimate question remains: are there enough geeks out there to financially justify spending any real money on a project that is unlikely to hit it big outside of the geek culture? The evidence so far points to “no”. That’s not good news for those hoping to see more of Mal, Zoe, Jayne and the rest of the crew. Hey, speaking of whom…

It would be difficult, if not impossible, to get the original actors back together to work in the project. I know they all loved working on the franchise, but a lot of time has passed, and actors move on to other things. Nathan Fillion, in particular, is starring in the very popular TV show Castle. Whether he wants to play Mal again or not, asking him to leave a show that has run four successful seasons to devote time to a franchise that has produced a less-than-a-season TV show and financially mediocre movie is a tough sell, from a business standpoint. Anything less than the full, original cast working on the project would feel like sacrilege. Hey, speaking of missing characters...

Even if you assume that every actor from the original franchise is available, you can’t logistically get the old gang back together. Spoiler Alert! Wash and Book got killed off in Serenity, so any sequel is minus them. Want to run the prequel route? Not only do you face the reality that all prequels suck, you still lose characters. Simon, River and Book don’t come aboard until the pilot episode of the series. So you either ignore them altogether, or try to tell three different stories at once. Plus everything interesting that happens to River and Simon pre-Firefly happens while they’re apart. Oh, and Inara’s already quite often out doing her own thing. At this point, you’re rarely seeing any two main characters in the same place at the same time. Hey, speaking of storytelling difficulties…

The most interesting stories have already been told. The Those Left Behind comic miniseries bridges Firefly and Serenity. The “R. Tam Sessions” video series covers a lot of what happened to River at the Academy. The recent A Shepherd’s Tale comic miniseries explains Book’s mysterious past. So your options are a prequel, which is a bad idea for the previously mentioned reasons, or forging ahead past Serenity, which sucks much of the appeal of the franchise. Not only are you sans Wash and Book, but River already seems to have figured out what was ailing her, and gone all superhero on everybody, so goodbye to all of the “What’s wrong with River?” drama. Instead you would see the writers creating problems for the crew, then trying desperately to explain away why River can’t easily fix them by destroying those responsible. Not to mention that the whole “Han Solo: The Series” appeal is gone, because the crew cannot go back to being the small-time smugglers, striving to make a living, that we all know and love. No, now they’re that group that dealt a near-death blow to the government in charge of the entire universe. Imagine Woodward and Bernstein trying to be anything other than “the Watergate guys”, only if Richard Nixon had been Emperor of Earth.

Could Joss Whedon overcome all of these obstacles and make a decent series or movie? Maybe. But he shouldn’t, because it would only be decent, and the Firefly franchise deserves better than that. Only the great die young, and that’s because they don’t live long enough to screw up. For once, let the fans have what they deserve, rather than what they want. Don’t bring back Firefly.

Negative Rebuttal
-Dustin

Even though I’m not a fan of the Buffy universe, you won’t see my arguing that Joss Whedon doesn’t know what he’s doing. The man knows his way around a script, without a doubt. But he has written what there is to write in this particular franchise.

You describe Firefly as “an episodic series where characters are always in need of more time to be fleshed out and explore dramatic arcs, a task that Serenity accomplishes for a reasonably decent portion of the main characters”. And you’re right. Serenity, and the other assorted comic books, etc. that have sprung up have completed majority of the character arcs that Firefly left incomplete. Nearly all of the conflict faced by each character is gone. Wash and Book are dead. Simon and Kaylee got over themselves, and got together. This was made possible largely by the fact that River has turned into an unstoppable killing machine, capable of taking out an entire room full of reavers. Even Mal and Inara seem to have come to a relative peace. A movie or TV series in which River kills everybody, Kaylee and Simon make out the whole time, and everybody else sits around and spits out Joss Whedon one-liners sounds awesome. And it would be, for about one episode. But where’s the conflict?

A season finale and a full-length feature film aren’t the same, and just because Buffy was brought back from what may have seemed like the brink doesn’t mean that Firefly could, or should be. Whedon did kind of leave the door open with the Operative’s comment at the end of Serenity that the Alliance is not gone, and not forgiving. But everything else about the movie screams that the franchise has come to an end. Consider Zoë, whose husband has just been killed at the end of the film. Rather than leave her fate and mental state up to the viewer’s imagination, and leave open a possible route to explore further down the road should the franchise be brought back, Whedon writes her a conversation with Mal, where she uses the ship/woman metaphor to assure us that she’s okay. When she says, “She’s banged up, but she’ll fly true,” I hear Joss Whedon assuring his fan base that Zoë will be alright, specifically because this is a goodbye.

You see happy endings to most movies, not just because audiences like to leave the theater on a positive note, but because once everything is resolved, the story is over. “There is nothing left to see.”

The Firefly/Serenity universe, unlike Star Trek, unlike Star Wars, and unlike many series in- and outside of the Sci Fi genre, will never force its fans to ignore certain incarnations for the sake of their own sanity. And that’s a beautiful thing. Enjoy the series, enjoy the movie, and use your imagination to figure out where the story goes from here. Just know that some things are better left as figments of the viewers’ imaginations.

Affirmative Rebuttal

-David

Alright, you gave four reasons. Let me see if I can address them:

Now, your first two arguments seem somewhat off base for me. You argue both that it’s unlikely that another film would make much money and that it would be difficult to get the cast members back. Now, I don’t mean to seem like I’m going for the low blow, but these arguments are better used to support the idea that Firefly/Serenity won’t likely be brought back, a concept most fans are being forced to accept. It does not, however, really support that Firefly/Serenity shouldn’t be brought back.

I’ll try to address your first point a bit anyway. When studios make a film like Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, and it doesn’t blow everybody away in the box office, they still understand the power of word of mouth and the effect that will have on home release sales. Cult hits are capable of raking in a lot of dough despite the fact that it was received somewhat poorly in theaters, see The Princess Bride, but studios have to know to be patient with it. That’s the thing about geek culture. There’s persistence in trying to get the people around them to watch the things they love that’s not quite as strong for non-geek targeted projects. The Browncoats (Firefly/Serenity fans) have grown in number quite a bit since 2005, the year of the film’s release. I think another project would be better received financially.

Now to address your second point. Yes, the actors have branched off to do different things. The most demanding roles are the television ones. These actually do make a new Firefly series impossible because as much as these actors love working on Firefly, I doubt they can or would break their contracts. It does not guarantee that another film is impossible however. It would take some scheduling, but the first film began shooting June 3 of 2004 and completed shooting September 17^th (my birthday, coincidentally) of 2004, so it’s reasonable to shoot between TV seasons, and obviously the cast that isn’t tied down by television demands would be freer to work with that schedule. It can be done.

I actually have to concede to your point that you can’t logistically get all the characters involved in either a prequel or sequel of the series or movie. I do not believe this means the series should not be brought back, however. I love Wash and Book as characters, but their deaths do not mean the story is over. New characters can be introduced. Keep in mind that Firefly was a TV show, and TV shows rarely have the exact same main cast from start to finish.

Finally, I’ll address your point of there simply being no more interesting stories to tell. I’m no writer, so I can’t really invent new plot points. I can only point once more to the fact that Whedon himself stated that what we know as the film Serenity would have been the finale to the second season of the show Firefly. Whedon usually has an outline of where his shows go, and I can guarantee he had no intention, if Fox had allowed for it, of simply ending the show at its second season. There were most definitely more stories to tell. The creepy mob boss Niska is still around, Whedon stated openly that the bounty hunter Jubal Early survived, and Yolanda/Saffron/Bridgett is still out there. Aside from that, I would love to see how a sane River dynamic would play out on the long term with Firefly’s crew. I don’t know what new enemy or conflicts Joss had planned. I only know that he sure planned them, and I believe they would be worth seeing.

Negative Closing Arguments
-Dustin

In closing, I can see that there are certainly some things we agree on. Firefly and Serenity were fantastically well done, Joss Whedon is a hell of a writer, and if the franchise was revisited as a TV show or a movie, both you and I would watch every episode/line up for the midnight showing.

But the point remains that what we want, and what should happen aren’t necessarily the same thing.

You say that Whedon can be trusted with the material. And the franchise is his baby, so there’s certainly no reason to say that he can’t do what he wants with it. But Michael Jordan could be trusted with a basketball until he was running around as a fraction of his former self in Washington. George Lucas could be trusted with the Star Wars franchise until he made the prequels. Steven Spielberg could be trusted with Indiana Jones until he made Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Insert your favorite example of a musician who kept making music long after they had anything good left to write. Even genius has to be saved from itself sometimes.

You mentioned that most TV series don’t have the same cast from start to finish, and that’s a true statement. Most TV series that survive long enough to shuffle main cast members also survive long enough to start sucking, or at the very least take the turn from “great” to “mediocre”. I believe that Joss Whedon would be able to pull together a movie or TV series sans Shepherd Book, sans Wash, worked around all of the potential scheduling conflicts, given all of the outside influence that the producers would want to have before sinking money into a franchise that was not a major financial success as a show or movie the first time around, and still make an above-average movie/show. I’ll be thrilled to death if it ever happens. But above-average wouldn’t live up to the superiority of the franchise to date.

So until then, I’ll be able to continue to recommend Firefly and Serenity to everyone I know, without hesitation. When you talk with fellow fans or potential converts about most movie franchises, most TV series, or most musicians, you have to separate their “good stuff” from the stuff you’d rather forget ever happened. I’ve never had to do that with the Firefly franchise. And that’s the way it should stay.

Affirmative Closing Arguments
-David

In closing, I'd simply like to briefly go over my two main points.

My first point was that the demand for Firefly/Serenity is high. Your main point against that was just because demand is high, that doesn't mean we should get what we want because there's a chance that the product might have diminished in quality significantly. My main counter to that is that Joss Whedon and Co. can be trusted to handle the franchise with care. My evidence for that is the way other intellectual properties of his are handled even over the long term.

I think the next major point is that the Firefly 'verse has more stories to tell. Your main point against that was about how the movie and comic books have managed to wrap up a lot of the hanging questions left by the unfinished TV series. My main counter point against that is that since the original form of media for this franchise was television, there were clearly a lot more stories to tell, stories that would understand how to say goodbye to old characters and integrate new ones. I pointed out that Whedon himself called the film Serenity a season 2 finale, which means that it was never meant to be the complete end to the franchise.

Overall, just about every single one of my arguments comes to rest on trust in the writing of Joss Whedon. You cite instances where anticipated returns have been met with disappointment, but not all of them are. Certainly, I would assert that Joss Whedon's involvement tips the odds in the favor of a return being on par with our heightened expectations. Consider the relationship between the TV show and the movie, separated by time, by studios, and yet still both very fine installments in the overall franchise. On top of that, Whedon can be trusted to provide more stories in this universe. The 'verse has not been exhausted for all of its quality story telling opportunities, particularly with Whedon at the helm.

Coming Soon: Total Recall

noreply@blogger.com (David Bishop) — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 20:37:00 +0000

I wouldn't say I'm excited about this remake of the 1990 Schwarzenegger film, but I'm not dismissing it by any means. I think conceptually, the original Total Recall is a very impressive film, and I am a little curious in light of the success of films like The Matrix and Inception if the filmmakers will make an effort to assume a more intelligent audience is able to keep up with the dream/reality motif of the story. It is a Philip K. Dick tale after all, and that guy knows how to write compelling science fiction. I'm also one of the few fans of the most recent Die Hard film, so having its director Len Wiseman helm the new Total Recall does sway me a bit. The action scenes do look pretty incredible. What do you think?

OWENS: The Tale of Desperaux (2008)

noreply@blogger.com (David Bishop) — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 02:23:00 +0000

Given Gary Ross' success in adapting The Hunger Games into a major motion picture, why not take a look at another book to screen adaptation he handled.

The Tale of Desperaux (2008)
Directors: Sam Fell, Robert Stevenhagen
Starring: Matthew Broderick, Dustin Hoffman, Emma Watson, Tracey Ullman, Kevin Kline, William H. Macy, Stanley Tucci, Ciarán Hinds, Robbie Coltrane, Tony Hale, Frances Conroy, Frank Langella, Sigourney Weaver, Christopher Lloyd

Another movie that I wanted to see during its theatrical release, but just never got around to it. It's somewhat rare for me to be interested in an animated movie at all that doesn't have the Pixar quality assurance stamp, but I'd say my motivation was likely dampened by lackluster reviews because even now the cast seems so titillating. When I saw that it was added to the Netflix instant watch feature, I added it right away and immediately planned to make an OWENS of it. Let's see how it went.

The Tale of Desperaux is an animated movie about a land in need of a revival. You see, the town's pride and joy was its soup, but when a rat falls into the soup on the day of the festival, the Queen is killed from the shock/drowning in the soup(?) which sends the King into a sorrowful rage. He immediately bans soup production in the land and makes rats illegal. Meanwhile, a mouse is born in a mouse city inside the castle with unusual characteristics. For one, he's smaller than the other mice save for his ears which are abnormally large. For two, he's got a thirst for adventure and believes in truth, honor, and courage, all things that make him an outcast in the mouse community. He's eventually banished to the rat city where he quickly begins an adventure to help the princess restore the land to its happier times.

The Tale of Desperaux is a difficult movie for me to evaluate. On the one hand, I can see a much younger version of myself completely being wrapped up in the movie. I loved the nobility of holding up truth, justice, courage and honor as a kid (still do today), and I wouldn't have been bored with The Tale of Desperaux's lack of complexity since that would have gone over my head. You see, The Tale of Desperaux's greatest weakness is it's cliched story with somewhat simple characters. The movie doesn't even trust its audience enough to know whats going on that there has to be a narrator chiming in to remind you every so often. And yet, that's sort of what's expected for a movie whose target audience is children, so is it fair of me to try and knock it for that? At the very least, the animation and visual style of Desperaux is actually very impressive.

I suppose I'll just say this before I give my star rating. If I were picking this movie out for a kid, I'd recommend it highly, but for older audiences, I don't imagine it will be nearly as engaging.

Netflix Rating: Liked it

What is OWENS?

What's Scary About 'The Hunger Games'

noreply@blogger.com (DustinR) — Sat, 24 Mar 2012 08:04:00 +0000

Obvious announcement before we get started: This probably should go without saying, but there are going to be some spoilers about the movie in this post. Consider yourself warned.

Anyway.

I've never read the Hunger Games books, but based on the overwhelmingly positive reviews (86% positive on Rotten Tomatoes, at last check), and my girlfriend's wanting to see the movie, I went to a midnight showing. The movie seems like it's making a ton of money, and extremely positive word-of-mouth reviews are no doubt helping it along, as it seems like the movie has been all that anyone can talk about for the last 48 hours or so.

On the surface, I have no problem with this. It's a well-made film, one that appeals to both genders, with taut action sequences, humor, and tear-jerking scenes. The actors turn in solid performances, and while the movie clearly has a big budget, the special effects aren't gaudy. From a technical standpoint, this is a movie that deserves all the praise it's getting, and money it's making.

Something about the movie, and the reaction that it has gotten scares me, however.

The basic premise of the film is that the main character, Katniss Everdeen, ends up representing her district in the titular annual competition, in which 12 boys and 12 girls in their teens are forced to compete in a fight to the death, with only one survivor. It's sort of like The Running Man or Death Race, only if all of the contestants were 18 or younger, and completely innocent of any crimes. Okay, no problems this far. It's a pretty messed-up premise for a movie, but that would only make it more cathartic if/when the whole thing comes tumbling down.

But in a movie like that, the focus has to be on how messed up this world is that the government is forcing youths to brutalize one another for sport. The main antagonist of the film should be the government, not the other kids who are trying to kill Everdeen to stay alive. And halfway through the film, everybody just kind of forgets that. The movie becomes more about how mean some of the other kids are (you know, the ones who want to win the competition, and not die) instead of how screwed-up the Games are. The inevitable final showdown with one of the other kids plays out just like every other standoff between the "good guys" and "bad guys" you've ever seen. The audience in the theater I was at cheered as the bad guy met his demise.

Are you seeing the issue? The boy from the other district still isn't the bad guy. He's a victim, just the same as Everdeen. The government that is pitting teenagers against each other is the bad guy.

Every minute the movie spends being more about Everdeen "winning" than it is about the horror of the idea of teenagers murdering each other for sport is a minute that society spends creeping closer and closer to the idea of "Murder as TV entertainment" becoming reality. Bottom line, you're not supposed to root for Katniss, you're supposed to root for all of the kids to survive, because they're all innocent. But that doesn't seem to be what people are taking away from the film, they're just pulling for the character they like best to win, the same as the bloodthirsty public in the movie, the people we're supposed to loathe.

Everdeen herself starts out the movie being horrified by the entire concept of the Games, but quickly throws her morals out the window in order to have a better chance of winning. She originally has no interest in trying to sway the public to her side, but as soon as her helpful assistants (played by Woody Harrelson and Lenny Kravitz) stress the importance of being media-savvy to win over the all-important sponsors, she complies, spending the rest of the movie putting on a happy face for the camera, and later seeming to legitimately enjoy her win. Even Harrelson and Kravitz's characters (the "good guys") show only minor moral qualms with the entire concept of the Games, looking far more pleased that Katniss won than they are concerned with the over 20 innocent kids who were just murdered.

Still think I'm overreacting? Look at Facebook and Twitter, listen to people talk about the movie. See how many are using the movie's catch phrase, "May the odds be ever in your favor." It's getting thrown around in a totally innocuous context. Mind you, the line is coined and used by the movie's corrupt government officials, in an ironic if not outright sarcastic fashion, directed towards the 24 living, breathing kids who are about to become one living, breathing kid and 23 dead kids. It would be like if someone made a movie about a fictional Holocaust, in which the fictional Nazis told the fictional Jews, "Best of luck, buddy!" as the Jews entered the internment camps, and then kids started telling each other, "Best of luck, buddy!" like it was the new cool thing to say.

And yes, before you ask, I am aware that the books and the movie are fictional. And yes, I am aware that there will be more than one movie, picking up where the first leaves off, hopefully (again, haven't read the books) culminating in the overthrow of the entire Hunger Game system, and those responsible. And yes, I am perfectly okay with movies putting characters into morally ambiguous situations like having to decide between killing innocent people, or being killed.

But what I'm not okay with is people walking away from a movie that sees over 20 innocent kids brutally murdered and thinking it had a happy ending because the character we liked best survived.

Ironically, the movie tells us exactly what it's doing to us, and it still succeeds in doing so. When the death of a likable secondary character leads to a riot, the TV producer is persuaded to give the audience "something to root for", namely "young love" between Everdeen and the male representative from her district. The forced TV romance quickly turns into true romance, and the gullible fictional audience falls for it, forgetting to be offended by the murders, and rooting for the young lovers to win.

The real life movie-going audience, um, well, does exactly the same thing.

It's enough to make one wonder if murder as popular entertainment is such a stretch of the imagination after all, as long as there's a clever producer behind the scenes, making sure the audience knows who to root for.

Coming Soon: Battleship

noreply@blogger.com (David Bishop) — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 04:17:00 +0000

I have a growing concern with this movie. Each time new promotional material is released, I become less and less enthusiastic about it (and I wasn't exactly sold on a Battleship movie from the get-go). I'm still leaning towards giving it a chance upon its release because of Friday Night Lights alums. In particular, Taylor Kitsch and Peter Berg. I was one of the few who actually enjoyed John Carter, so I think Taylor Kitsch can pull of action hero pretty well. As for the film's director Peter Berg, I actually really like a lot of what he does. Friday Night Lights aside, I also enjoyed Hancock and The Rundown, so maybe Battleship can blow it out of the water as well. Still, this latest trailer gives me some serious Transformers vibes, and I have not been particularly enthusiastic about that franchise.

The 10 Greatest Under-The-Radar Music Videos

noreply@blogger.com (DustinR) — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 04:13:00 +0000

Anybody can slap together a list of the greatest music videos of all-time. In fact, it's been done over and over again, to the point that doing so once more would be pointless. How many times do you really need to be reminded that "Thriller" is awesome? But given my affinity for some slightly more under-the-radar (I refuse to call myself it hipster) music, reading these lists makes me wish more people would recognize videos that don't have huge budgets, win awards, or get a bajillion YouTube views.

Consequently, here is my list of the 10 Greatest Under-The-Radar Music Videos, videos that have less than 3 million YouTube views, and didn't crack the best-ever lists of Time, NME, Rolling Stone, or Billboard:

(I'm providing links instead of embedding so that you can take the videos one at a time, and not freeze your browser as it tries to open all ten at once. I can't be the only person who has that problem, right?)

#10: Fort Minor - Where'd You Go

Why it's great: I love songs that capture and convey one specific emotion to the point that it's hard not to feel as though you're in the shoes of the songwriter, feeling what they feel. This song does that with the feeling of loss and growing frustration that comes with having a loved one living far away from you. The video, featuring interviews with different families going through similar feelings of loneliness, is a wonderful companion to the song, and really hits home.

#9: Ben Lee - Catch My Disease

Why it's great: Number 10 was kind of a downer start to the list, I realize. To get everyone back in a better mood, here is what would happen if you took the concept of "giddiness", ran it through the Magical Manifestation Machine, and turned it into a song, and accompanying video. Hula hoops, a rabbi dancing, people being pushed around in shopping carts, cheerleaders, balloons...if you don't love this video, you have no soul, you ought to be pitied.

#8: Grouplove - Colours

Why it's great: It's the child-like fantasy of a man who is about to be hanged. If I ever find myself condemned to die a violent death, I can only hope my last thoughts are this innocent and beautiful.

#7: The Avett Brothers - Murder in the City

Why it's great: Not every video needs to be super-complicated. Sometimes simply putting a camera in front of two brothers playing and singing a moving-beyond-words song about their father's last wishes and undying love is the right thing to do. Also, the smirk on one brother's face as the other sings about getting in lots of trouble, whereas their parents "let the other go", is priceless.

#6: N.E.R.D. - She Wants to Move

Why it's great: I could talk about my massive man-crush on Pharrell, my massive hetero-crush on the dancer in the video, the creepy Queen-on-acid floating heads effect, the fact that Pharrell throws up the "live long and prosper" hand sign...but really, this video earned its spot on the list the minute they used their special effects budget on an ass-shaped space ship. My inner 12-year old child hasn't stopped laughing.

#5: Polyphonic Spree - Light and Day

Why it's great: Because 99% of the time, music videos comprised of movie footage suck. Because 99% of the time, music videos that heavily involve actors singing along suck. But when you put the two together, and have literally everybody and everything sing along - including houses, plates of food, and cars - well, you've won me over.

#4: The Airborne Toxic Event - Sometime Around Midnight

Why it's great: Just like Fort Minor captures that "loved one being away" emotion perfectly, the Airborne Toxic Event nails the "unexpectedly seeing your ex in a public place with someone else" gut-wrench frighteningly well. The video plays along without being heavy-handed about it. And whereas the song doesn't provide any closure, the video's protagonist shows that he's going to attempt to move on, with the tried-and-true "lighting a picture on fire" approach. And thank goodness for that, because after listening to a song that stirring, I need a little closure.

#3: The Belle Brigade - Losers

Why it's great: The song is about shedding the desire to live up to society's expectations, about not caring about "going out on Friday" or "being smooth with women". The video is about breaking a bunch of dogs out of a pound. Are those two things related? Not really. Are those two things both beautiful, and when combined, do they cause me to break out in a huge grin every time I watch this video? Hell yes.

#2: Manchester Orchestra - Simple Math

Why it's great: The whole car crash/confusion and frustration of youth metaphor is deep, and the way the video overlaps the two, with the crash and the childhood memories interrupting each other, is just fantastically done.

#1: Badly Drawn Boy - Year of the Rat

Why it's great: What's better than a video about a guy who sees that the world around him is filled with problems, and resolves to hug everything all better? Nothing. Nothing is better. That's the single best thought that has ever been thought.

8-Bit Features #15

noreply@blogger.com (David Bishop) — Sat, 17 Mar 2012 02:00:00 +0000

As of the moment that I'm writing this, Rachel guessed the first two images right away, and nobody got the third image for last week. This week, I think I may have made it too hard, but I'd be more than happy to be proved wrong.

Rules:

Be the first to correctly guess the movie for each screenshot in the comments and be awarded

1 point for Image 1 and 2
2 points for Image 3

If any image has not been guessed correctly by Thursday, I'll post a hint in the comments.

Leaderboards:
Univarn - 7
Andy the Time Lord, Dylan, Rachel-6
Jess, Wendymoon-5
DustinR-4
Chris Ulliot -2
Andrew Robinson, Vanessa- 1
Stumped-7

Image 1:

Image 2:

Image 3:

Read more to see last week's results:

Answer: Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)
Correctly Guessed By: Rachel

Answer: Serenity (2005)
Correctly Guessed By: Rachel

Answer: Conan O'Brien Can't Stop (2011)
Correctly Guessed By: Nobody

Pi Day again

noreply@blogger.com (David Bishop) — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 21:42:00 +0000

Happy Pi Day HFSTHF readers! Celebrate by reading up on the mathematical constant, or I suppose you could have a piece of pie, but that doesn't sound like nearly as much fun.